Forks
by cherryy09
Summary: On a flight to Seattle, on November 30th 2008, Bella Swan meets Edward Masen. They are both heading home to their lives and their futures. But little do they know that everything, life as they know it, is about to change.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: My last story... well I lost all interest after I posted it. I guess I was just excited to submit something. I had no clue where that was headed. But this one... I've been working on this for a few days. I wanted the first chapter to be pretty long considering BS's first chapter was less than 2000. BS felt... like a chore to write. I wasn't having fun. But writing Forks was so much different. I actually enjoyed it. I was writing scenes to myself in my head whilst walking from the bus stop. That's how much I loved writing this. I didn't feel pressured or anything. It was relaxing. I would really appreciate any feedback on this. I can't really associate a song with this chapter. I looked through my iTunes though, but nothing fit. If you have any suggestions, though, offer them! So... on with it all.**

**Disclaimer? Anyway. Don't own Twilight, the lucky Stephenie Meyers does. I just play with the cast occasionally (: Oh and River Flows In You is all Yiruma.**

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Chapter 1

(BPOV)

I was running late, _again_.

As I flew through the crowds of Sky Harbour International's terminal four, I felt anxious, for my flight, but oddly free. As much as I loved my father and mother, Charlie and Renee often became quite tiresome, quite easily. The eccentric free-spirit of my mother was difficult enough to keep up with as it already was, throw in a family gathering and she could easily wear you down. It's hard to remember how I got through my first 18 years in that house with her every single day. My father, however, was so laid back he may as well have been horizontal. Charlie is a huge and obsessed sports fan, and I mean that in every sense of the word. I spent four days with my parents in Phoenix for Thanksgiving, and not once did I see him out of his recliner.

Thinking back to the past several days, I couldn't help but grimace. I was only 20 years old, but my mother seemed to be under the misapprehension that I needed a man in my life and had taken to parading every eligible bachelor in a ten mile radius through our front door. I had met countless accountants, insurance salesmen and store managers since Wednesday afternoon, when I arrived. As it was a family gathering, Charlie had called and invited up his old friend Billy Black and his son Jacob, over from Long Beach for the holiday. They pair had grown up together in Tacoma and Billy was the only brother figure my father had. At nineteen, the pair had met their wives on a Christmas trip to Portland, and Jacob and I had shown up within months of each other the following year.

But instead of growing up together as our fathers had, my mother insisted on moving south. I was raised in Phoenix, Jacob in Tacoma. We saw each other every Thanksgiving and Christmas, but that was about the height of our social contact. I actually had not seen him since we were seventeen, after he had moved to Long Beach following his mother's death, when I arrived home to find him sprawled on our couch. I guess my mother was convinced that seeing Jake three years older and handsome would cause me to fall in love with him and give her grand-babies and a wedding to plan, but she was so dead wrong it was laughable. He, however, seemed to share her view on me and I was hit on more times than I could count. But we just never had that good and lasting of a friendship, and I told him I was not interested. He sulked, predictably, but I decided not to dwell on it and focused my will on surviving the visit.

I was glad to return to Seattle, where I had called home for the past two years, and intended to for a long time. I attended the University of Washington, where I studied English literature and French. It was my dream to become a college professor myself, and I felt I was well on my way on doing so. I escaped from Death Valley like a bat out of hell, one week after my high school graduation.

I shook my head and brought myself back to the present. I was dashing clumsily past various gates in the terminal. I was so close, but the plane was to leave in only 10 minutes and I was beginning to panic. I rounded the corner and my eyes zoned in on the large, yellow lit up number on the left wall. At last.

I threw myself at the desk, and the bored employee seated behind it sneered at my dishevelled state. I was already flushed, but my face turned even more beetroot as he could so easily hear my laboured breathing. Without a word, I handed him my passport and ticket, then proceeded to make my way towards the plane.

I was relieved to find the stewardess who greeted me outside the cockpit was smiling cheerfully at me as she checked my seat number. "There's always one. Right down at the back dear, on the left." She acted at least two decades older than myself, but her soft, beautiful face begged to differ. Wavy, caramel hair was swept gracefully over one shoulder, and I caught a glance at her name tag. _Esme_. I made a mental note to only ever ask her for any help when I eyed the only other visible stewardess. This woman however, was very intimidating. She towered five inches above myself, and was peering at me down her perfect, angular nose as if I were nothing more important than any dirt on the underside of my shoe, because of course, her own heels would be spotless. She had long and beautifully natural blonde hair that looked styled to perfection. Her physique rivalled even the most famous of models. Why was she stuck on a plane? _Rosalie_. I was definitely going to stay away from her.

I half ran to the rear end of the plane, my bulky carry on causing the need to turn sideways as I stumbled between the two sets of chairs. The seats were in threes on either side of me, and as I neared to back, I prayed for an aisle seat. I was a klutz enough on safe, non-moving land but on a moving container, 30,000 feet in the air, I was a disaster waiting to happen. I'd rather save myself any extra humiliation of climbing over other peoples laps to reach the restroom. As I finally approached the final row of seats, my heart sank. The only available space was at the window to the left of me. I sighed. Typical.

I glanced up as another steward appeared from behind the small toilet cubicle. He was tall, over six foot at the very least, deeply tanned and had the most beautiful easy smile on his face. He gestured toward my bag.

"Shall I stow that over-head for you, ma'am?" His voice had this low and sexy southern drawl to it, that immediately made me feel at ease. I smiled back timidly. "Ye.. yes, thank you." I felt the oh so familiar warmth flood my cheeks and I glanced awkwardly toward my seat. Big mistake. Or, best thing ever.

Sitting on the seat directly next to mine, was God's gift to mankind, and boy was that God known to make miracles. He looked around my age, as far as I could guesstimate, and had the most stunning emerald eyes, framed by soft, dark lashes. His skin was a pearly pale colour, slightly more coloured than my own near-albino tone. Turns out that even the constant sunshine in Phoenix could do absolutely nothing to my skin tone. Oh, and a factor 40 lotion tends to help.

And oh my, his hair. I never felt a desire so potent than the need I felt now to run my fingers through those soft, shiny locks. They were the most intriguing shade of bronze, not quite brown but not quite auburn. A peculiar, yet immensely sexy, mix of the two. It was so naturally all over the place, he looked as if he had just rolled out of bed and threw on a pair of jeans and stepped on the plane, as the tight black t-shirt he wore left little, and I do mean basically nothing, to the imagination. The desire to feel his hair dropped considerably lower to his defined, sculpted and marble chest. My finger tips twitched.

His face was totally relaxed and calm as he stared aimlessly out of the small, circular window. Just like the rest of his body, his face looked like it had been chiselled to perfection into shining marble by freaking Greek Gods. Subconsciously, my tongue ran itself along my own bottom lip as I feasted my eyes on his own. _What they must taste like…_ Wait, what the hell was wrong with me?! Snap out of it, Bella. Just an hour ago I was convincing my damn mother on how a man was just not what I could deal with right now. I was far too busy with my studies and my measly salesgirl job that I basically half-assed most of the time. I did not have the time or… the desire… to ogle a man. I was better than that, I was no-where near as shallow.

Oh hell, right now, I was. He was… perfect. I could deal with this kind of perfect for the next few hours, and then be that strong, unbreakable and independent chick when I got home.

In the time it took my now mushy brain to process him and my thoughts, he had noticed me standing there, shamelessly staring. He coughed lightly. I blinked. Then blushed. Hell, what didn't make me blush nowadays…

I fumbled for a few seconds before I attempted to manoeuvre myself in front of his knees. I sucked in with all my might and practically melded my body to the seat in front as I moved, but the fates were against me and the bulk, muscle and curls that made up the guy in the chair I was clutching shifted his weight and slumped his head backwards. Without even thinking, I removed my hands from where his head would eventually hit, totally not realising they were supporting my body above the gorgeous guy.

I couldn't help myself, I squeaked. Then landed with a loud thump on his lap.

His hands instinctively flew out and latched onto my waist as I landed, and god help me, I squeaked again, just a little. My entire head was a furnace and I shut my eyes in pure humiliation.

"Oh… god. I'm sorry, I'm such an idiot. I can't believe I landed on you like that. Ah… crap…"

I, Isabella Marie Swan, am a rambler. When I get nervous, my mouth firmly latches itself shut, but when I am embarrassed, I just cannot stop. The word vomit continued to spew every where until I heard the most beautiful sound. He was laughing. His head was thrown back against the headrest and his sparkling green eyes were firmly on me as his chest and shoulders shook with mirth. _Hmm… his shoulders looked so strong and sure and hmm..._ Dammit, Bella! Focus! _Yeah, Bella. Focus on the delicious fact you are seated on his big strong legs. Focus on how you've been there for a whole of 20 seconds and he has still to remove his hands from your hips._

I was so screwed.

Then he spoke. And I was officially right, everything about him was perfect. His voice was low and melodic, I could listen to him speak for hours.

"Are you okay?" Gorgeous _and_considerate.

"I'm fine!" Dammit, Bella. What did we say about the squeaking.

"That's good…" His eyes shifted lazily downwards. "Comfortable?"

I was even more mortified to realise I had made absolutely no attempt to remove myself from my awkward position. I shot upwards and apologized. He was laughing again and I was drawn into the depths of those magnificent eyes as he smiled. The final nail in my coffin. Compared to this man, the sexy southern steward paled in comparison. Where his smile had been calming, this smile was positively breath-taking. I almost gasped. Not quite, but I was so very, very close. And I was dazzled.

I grinned back at him, apologized once more and took my seat and latched the belt across my waist. The area under my t-shirt that his hands had held so tightly was burning lightly, like an electric current was buzzing just below my skin. What this stranger could do to me, and he had absolutely no idea.

The three stewards came together, then all dispersed to various spots along the aisle and began their safety demonstration. I had been on planes a lot, I knew this stuff backwards. So I let my mind focus entirely on not making a fool of myself beside this unearthly stranger, and I focused my gaze at some point beyond the clouds and sighed.

I suddenly felt a very close presence, and the faintest of pressures against my left shoulder, and the warmest and sweetest breath on the back of the ear. Oh god.

"You really should pay attention." The velvety loveliness of his voice was soothing and I was tempted to let him continue before I turned my head to face him. Holy shit, he was a lot closer than I thought. His angel's face was only half a foot from my own, give or take an inch or two. Sarcastic Bella and the hazy fog that appeared to be female Bella fought for dominance. Luckily, the regular side won.

"Oh really? What break-through could they possibly tell me that I don't already know?"

"Well, with you're apparent moving issues, it seems you should take all the help you can get."

Instinct got the best of me, and I laughed. It felt good, easy. I hadn't laughed much, or at least genuinely, in the past few days. "True."

He smiled again and my breathing hitched. He held out his left hand.

"I'm Edward." I wondered happily how much more of him I could end up touching before we landed. Then my mind went straight to the gutter. The thought started innocently, I swear. I grasped his hand softly and marvelled internally at the warmth. It didn't feel awkward, it felt natural. His head swooped forwards and he raised our hands to his lips and lightly kissed a knuckle. My heart was going about a mile a minute.

For one brief, crazy moment, I forgot my own name. It finally came back to me and I stuttered, like the ass I am.

"B…Bella." Nice, Bells. Real smooth.

"It's nice to um… meet you, Bella. Despite the unfortunate circumstances." The corner of his lips lifted ever so slowly into a crooked and gorgeous grin. I was not sorry at all.

"Yeah well, we have four hours. Get used to it. I tend to fall, a lot, Edward." I loved the feel of saying his name, as if it held some huge secret only for me. The feel of him saying my name however, was even sexier. The tall blonde stewardess, he didn't know _her_ name. Well I hope to god he didn't. As the plane continued northwards, we fell into easy conversation. I told him of home and my parents, and my English literature course at the university. He told me of his parents back in Chicago, the aunt he had been visiting in Tucson and his passion for music. He even retrieved his ipod from his jeans pocket and let me listen to one of his piano pieces. I was beyond stunned. It was named "River Flows In You", he told me his aunt had named the piece, and I was almost in tears. He noticed, of course, and smiled faintly when I blushed.

We were really enjoying each other's company, when the captain came on over the intercom.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. There has been a slight delay in landing." There was a collective groan throughout the compartment. I, however, was secretly delighted. I now had some extra time with this glorious stranger. The captain continued.

"With the bad weather south of the Peninsula, our intended runway was covered by ice through the afternoon. The clean-up of the concrete has taken longer than anticipated so Air Control has advised us to circle west, fly across Canada, and then come in from the north to a separate runway. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We shall arrive in Seattle in approximately two hours."

A low buzz of conversation gradually picked up when the captain's speech came to it's close. I turned back to face Edward to find him seemingly unfazed by the news. I realized quickly that you conversation hadn't broached the topic of why exactly he was in Seattle, as I knew now that his parents were in Chicago still. I decided to ask him.

"Edward?"

"Hmm?"

"What's waiting for you there. In Seattle, I mean. I just realised I never asked before." I was once again privileged to be on the receiving end of one of his gorgeous grins. His eyes positively lit up as he spoke.

"Alice." He said it with such sincerity, he made it sound as if we knew her mutually, as if one word could summarize all the cheer his face now seemed to radiate.

I quickly rehashed in my mind three hours worth of conversation, searching again and again for her name. As I did so, my heart and stomach began to plummet inch by inch. But of course, a man such as him would not be on his own, surely. I mentally scolded myself. I could not think like this, as if I had some sort of claim to him. In two hours we would separate, go lead our own lives once more.

He seemed to misconstrue my silence for confusion, not sadness or jealousy, so he quickly updated me on this new person. I was immediately relieved, then once again scolded myself for feeling so.

"Alice is my baby sister. Well, twin sister really. But if we get technical, I am actually 6 minutes older. We both go to school there. She's studying in the Art Institute down at Belltown near the bay. She's hoping to become a fashion designer. I however, am also studying at UW. I'm doing a psychology course, she says I'm great at reading people apparently. I play my music at a bar round the block from our apartment. Alice is great, she's meeting me at the airport. You could actually meet her, but I warn you now, she's a hurricane of energy…" His voice trailed of wistfully as he smiled at the thought of his baby sister, he really seemed to have missed her.

"How come Alice didn't come down to Arizona with you to visit your aunt?" It seemed odd to me that he speak of her so well, but that they were apart for Thanksgiving. Actually, come to think of it, why were the both of them away from their parents at this time of year? He answered both of my questions at once.

"She got picked up by some agent a few weeks ago, some hippie who showed up on campus. I thought he looked a bit… off… when she dragged me along to meet him for coffee. But apparently he's some big-shot designer who's hosting a Christmas fashion show in Los Angeles. He was in Washington when he was told he had the job, so he went scouting for some fresh talent to help him out. And he found Alice. She's ecstatic, of course, but the past few weeks have been so hard on her. He give her a December deadline to prove she had what it takes and create all these different looks. She's barely had a chance to sleep. She begged me to miss out on the vacation so she had a few extra days. It's hard to say no to her. We don't really… talk to our parents often, so that's why we didn't plan to spend the week in Chicago. We love them, of course, but what we wanted didn't exactly amount up to their expectations of us. Dad wanted me to be a Doctor of Medicine, like him. Mom wanted Alice to be a lawyer, like her. They thought our dreams were unimportant. Lets just say we applied over here in secret, got the acceptances, rubbed it in their faces and were moved out within the week."

He chuckled lightly at this but I could detect the underlying pain and tension at being so closed off from the people that raised him. I placed my hand lightly on his forearm.

"I'm sorry." I didn't really know what else to say. As much as my parents were tough to handle ordinarily, they had loved me unconditionally and accepted my dreams without protest. They just wanted me to be happy. As much as it hurt them that I was moving so far away, they just got over the distance and were always happy to hear of north-western life. Charlie often seemed nostalgic.

Edward shook it off. "It's okay, really. We talk. We go for Christmas. But we limit it really to that. You'd think that after two years that they would just accept where our lives were headed. But apparently not."

He seemed to be deliberating something, then he smiled again. Without warning he stood and made his way to the aisle. The man who had been seated to his left was in the restroom. His arms reached for the over-head compartment and I was briefly stunned as I marvelled at the smooth contours and the strong muscles of his stomach as he stretched. The t-shirt inched up slowly and I caught a quick glimpse of pale hip bones before he slumped back to normal, a small back-pack on one shoulder. He sat down again and rummaged for several minutes before producing a wallet. He flipped it open and retrieved a slightly worn Polaroid.

"This is Alice and me, when we first moved here two years ago. The guy who took this photo lives next door to our place. His name's Mike, a bit of a player but he's still pretty cool."

I gazed in wonder at the photograph. For twins, Alice and Edward could not appear any different. By comparing Edward to the room he was in, the door he leaned against, he couldn't be anything less than 6 foot. A faint, yet glorious, sheen of sweat coated his grinning face. He wore old, faded jeans and a pale blue shirt, sleeves rolled up and open to reveal a white tee. One muscled arm was bent awkwardly around a cardboard box labelled "Alice's Shoes", the other was wrapped around the shoulders of said Alice. She was small, very much so, and thin in the extreme. The top of her head barely made it to Edward's shoulder. She was atleast 4 foot 10. She was smiling happily, and had both arms encased around her brother's waist. She wore tight blue jeans, and a white and light grey sweater I immediately recognized was Abercrombie and Fitch. She exuded cheerfulness. I would have loved to meet her.

Suddenly, the cabin pressure shifted to the extent that my ears popped. People began to speak louder, alarmed. The southern steward behind us began to walk swiftly toward the cockpit, often having to latch onto the chair head-rests to steady himself. The plane was not big, so he quickly grouped with the other female stewards, Esme and Rosalie I remembered, and they rang through to the captain. Something was wrong. The voice of the captain quickly filled the plane, but something wasn't right. He didn't address us, or make any acknowledgement we were listening. But he was frantic, yelling into another radio. From what I could gather in background noise, the other radio gave off only static. He began to speak, panicking, to the other pilot.

"Carter, what the hell was that? Did you feel that? What the… we lost contact. I can't get through to SeaTac. It's as if they're not there. Hold on a sec, I'm gonna try Port- God, they're gone too. What the hell is happening down there? We gotta…" The scream that emitted from further down the plane was so deafening that the captain even shut up. The voices of panic and confusion immediately ceased. The woman who had screamed, began to yell.

"Oh my God! Oh my God, what is that out there?" The entire right-hand side of the plane, myself and Edward included, looked out our windows. We were heading north over Portland, so from our viewpoint we could make out the distant cloud of black smoke and fire that had erupted somewhere east of Seattle.

Back home in Phoenix, I had picked history to study in my last two years of high school. However it was only to appease the pleas of my best friend Casey, who was in love with the subject but did not want to go at it alone. So I submitted and told her yes. I detested the work we were learning, up until we began the topic of World War II. Pearl Harbour was one of my favourite movies at the time so I was eager to properly learn the history of the event. When we were told of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I was shocked at the images included in the text book. Over both cities had hovered the distinct, mush-room shaped collection of condensed water vapour and debris. Well that was the text-book definition. To me, a mushroom cloud was basically defined by the destruction it left.

Now, looking at one that was 30,000 feet taller than our altitude and growing, I was in shock. I faintly registered Edward's presence as he sucked in a gasping gulp of air. I had simply stopped altogether. I began to tremble as I took in what exactly this meant. I remembered again my own definition. I remembered history class. This… this cloud, meant death. Meant destruction. I found my left hand grasping tight to the arm-rest between me and Edward, I felt his own warm hand encase my own.

The body of the plane suddenly shuddered, and I felt us losing height quickly, too quickly. We continued north, through the think fog of my shocked mind I figured the captain was getting us as far away from this disaster as he could, but we were descending too fast. The cock-pit door was finally kicked open by a petrified steward, and the gentleman beside us leaned over the aisle and gasped in fear at what he must have seen through the front windows at the nose of the craft. I couldn't quite see all the way over by the window, but Edward could and what he saw caused his face to contort in horror and he looked back over at me, firmly grasping my hand in both of his. The plane had began to rattle slightly, and through the scenery whipping by below us, I could see towns and forest. We were going to crash, of that much I was sure. What Edward had seen could not be good. We began to veer left and the right wing of the plane tipped upwards and I could finally see what Edward had seen, what the captain was trying to have us avoid. The Olympic mountains. I recognized Mount Olympus vaguely from a postcard I had sent Renee, and gathered from that that we were maybe 3000 feet above ground as we headed west. But I also knew that much further west and we would hit ocean.

Tears sprung to my eyes as I remembered Renee. Charlie. My family. University. I remembered what I was now about to lose. I also thought of Edward. We had only known each other for a few hours, no where near enough. We were skimming the tree-tops now, it was almost over. Twenty years of my life, twenty years of hard work had led to this point.

Nothing was moving in slow motion, the way it does in movies. Instead, the adrenaline rush seemed to make my brain work much faster, and I was able to absorb in clear detail several different things. It was odd, how here I was, facing death, yet I could so easily see all these random details of where I was. I noticed that the large, muscled bodybuilder sitting in front of us was sobbing into his hands, how the oxygen masks had fallen, but not one person bothered to use theirs, as if they knew it was a lost cause. I noticed the utter silence of the two-year old who was shielded within his mother's arms across the aisle from us, how the stewards had made their way to the back of the plane just before we had begun to drop and were secured behind the partition. I also noticed how Edward was looking deep into my eyes. As the final seconds were drawing to a close, I lifted my right hand and placed it in top of the hands already holding my left. We didn't speak, we simply looked at each other, into each other. It was if he too was acknowledging the loss of what we had shared and gained, how it all now meant nothing.

I didn't shut my eyes as we hit the trunks of the forest. We were being jolted so dangerously my vision had blurred. I wanted my last image to be of his face, of the last good person I was privileged to know, so I continued to look at him, as he did to me. There was a final sickening, metallic, fateful crunch and powerful jolt and everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer? Anyway. Don't own Twilight, the lucky Stephenie Meyers does. I just play with the cast occasionally (:**

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Chapter 2

(BPOV)

Minutes, hours or days later was when I slowly began to become aware of where I was. Time seemed irrelevant. I felt as though I was submerged below the surface of a deep and dark ocean. The intense pressure of the depths were numbing, I could not feel my body at all. The darkness created the illusion that I was floating in a vast space of black nothingness.

I figured this is what it felt like to die.

As time slowly trickled onwards, my consciousness regained itself piece by piece. The numbness that had before assured me of what I thought was death, had decreased to a fading dullness. My limbs felt heavy as if my insides were made of lead. Pin-pricks of intense pain, severe pins and needles if you will, dotted around an area I was nearly sure was my abdomen. As the sensation increased ten fold in a matter of seconds, I made the effort to gasp and move my hands to my stomach, but the strength required seemed too much for my body to take, and I remained still, silent.

The vanishing haze over my body had yet to leave my brain and I could not recall the events that had brought me to this point, to these feelings. As I lay there, wherever there was, I forced myself to think of the last event I remembered. All I could come up with was my father. As suddenly as the pain had increased, bits and pieces of memories slowly began to make their way back to me, but I could put no meaning to them. I saw an airport. A football game on my father's widescreen. A turkey. Then suddenly there was a plane. In my memory I was running towards it. Then it all came flooding back to me. The plane. The cloud. The crash. Edward.

At this realization, I suddenly had no care for where I was or if something had happened to me. All I could think of was Edward, and if he was okay. On any other day, the depth of this concern for another person, a man no less, would have astounded me. But right here, right now, I couldn't care less for what this meant. He just had to be okay, I couldn't comprehend the possibility of him hurt.

I regained strength in my body to an extent, but I was still impossibly weak. I could feel every finger, every muscle, but I felt as though I had run a marathon, lifted the Empire State Building with my arms then had the building collapse on me. Every inch of me was aching. The darkness pressing in on my eyeballs also faded, and I could make out a faint bright light beyond my eye-lids. I just couldn't find the will to open my eyes and see what it was. I could barely register my own breathing, so I gathered together all my strength and opened my mouth to take in a deep, gasping breath. I felt the immense relief surge through my system with the large dose of oxygen. I was immediately worried. I could taste smoke. When I noticed this, I became aware of an intense heat to my right hand side. I was instantly certain of a fire. I just couldn't tell how close it was.

Willing my strength once more, I focused on moving what I was sure was my left hand. It trailed weakly over what felt like long, soft grass. The texture was smooth and slightly wet. There was also pieces of jagged metal and plastic. After 10 seconds of moving or so, I hit something solid. Or at least, soft and warm, but very much solid. There was intense relief. After curling my fingers around the object, I realised that it was a human wrist. There was a dampness, which I was sure was blood, but I would be unable to handle getting sick right now so I attempted to cut the breathing through my nose. My fingers moved downwards and slid between the fingers of this person. I nearly cried with happiness and relief when the hold felt familiar, it was Edward. I gave his hand a gentle squeeze, trying to signal to him that I was there, silently asking for a signal in return. There was nothing.

My strength still improving, my fingers fluttered upwards but they were shaking so badly now I couldn't get them to locate a pulse. Internally, I was screaming. Externally, I was still lying somewhere on damp grass surrounded by plane parts, the possibility I was injured immense. I could identify the roaring of the flames now as they got louder, and closer. I had to move. But I could also hear something else, something distant. Sirens. But they were so faint, they must be miles away. Again, I wondered where I was.

With the strength of a thousand bodybuilders, I yanked my eye-lids apart. There was a dull grey whiteness everywhere, with minute dark green blurred shapes to the bottom right of my vision. Beyond the whiteness, there was a small circular glowing yellowness. It was the sun, the sky. The green shapes were the tips of trees. My head was pounding, and it hurt to swivel my eyes from side to side, but I had to do it. I couldn't bare to face what may have happened to Edward, so I looked to my right and saw towering trees, their trunks only feet away from where I lay. I could also see the flames, which were a further five feet inwards. The forest I could see was in chaos. The fire had consumed several large oaks, there were plane parts in the branches. Laying desolate and bold in a small patch of forest floor was a single bright red stiletto. I thought of Rosalie.

I couldn't put it off any longer, so I turned to my left. The sight was excruciating. Beyond Edward, the small clearing where we lay was empty. I saw that it was a small circular meadow. In any other conditions, it would have been beautiful. I felt I could finally breathe again when I saw the shallow rise and fall of his chest. My heart seemed to swell. When I looked beyond signs of life, I internally winced. The shoulder closest to me, of the arm I was grasping, was bent at an awkward and painful angle. I was reminded of the time I fell down the stairs at the age of 14 and had to have my shoulder popped back into his socket. Edward had also dislocated his limb. His black t-shirt had been slashed along his left chest, to reveal one long, deep gash that was oozing blood. His face looked beaten, his hair a matted mess. From my viewpoint, no other major injuries were apparent and at this I felt relief. He would be okay.

I rolled onto my left hip, the searing pain in my abdomen hitting a new high. I finally emitted a sound when I whimpered softly. I curled my knees upwards towards my upper half and attempted to roll over once more so that I could sit up easily to sit on my heels. The force required knocked the breath from my lungs. I thrust out my arms to the damp surface of earth beneath me and was appalled to see a lot of blood. One hand flew to my stomach where the exposed skin through my t-shirt was torn and bleeding. It hurt a hell of a lot more to touch, so I left it alone. I finally was able to fully gaze at Edward's face.

He looked calm, if you removed the bruises he would look like he was sleeping. And even with the bruises, he was still breath-taking. I placed one hand on his cheek and spoke. My voice was low, weak and hoarse. But it was there, and I was thankful.

"Ed… ward." Nothing.

I tipped his cheek to the side and leaned closer. I mustered up my strength to be louder.

"Edward." Finally, a flicker of life. Nothing had ever seemed so glorious. His eyeballs slid from the left to the right beneath his lids, as if trying to locate the sound. I shuffled backwards on my knees and placed both hands firmly around his head and lifted it from the ground. The pain this caused to my abdomen was excruciating. I was biting my bottom lip so hard I had drawn fresh blood. When I couldn't contain it any longer and gasped in pain, he finally opened his eyes. The sparkle had gone, and for a moment that had frightened me, before I realised he didn't exactly have anything to be extremely happy about right now.

His eyes widened in concern and horror when he focused on my face. He then glanced sideways frantically taking in our surroundings. My voice was soft and weak when I whispered to him again.

"Edward. We crashed. I don't know where we are, but there is a fire behind us. We have to move. Can you move?" His gaze returned back to my eyes and very slowly, he nodded.

I vaguely recalled the stairs incident, and how our neighbour had offered to fix my shoulder. I focused on the technique and felt confident I could attempt it myself.

"Do you want me to fix your shoulder? I think I can. I learnt it before." He nodded again. My hands fumbled for his watch around his wrist and he took the strap willingly into his mouth and clamped down tight. His body tensed for what was to come. I laid his head gently back onto the grass, and placed my hands in position around his shoulder. With a loud crack, the joint was reunited with it's socket. Edward's eyes were squeezed tight and a loud moan escaped him. I immediately returned my hands to his face to soothe him.

"The pain will go soon. We have to move now. Can you stand?"

He nodded once more and slowly but surely rose to his knees as I did this same. With horror, he saw my abdominal wound for the first time and I heard a sharp intake of breath.

"Oh my God, Bella. Are you okay? That looks bad." His voice, as mine had been, was weak and husky. He gulped loudly at the feeling. My hands gently placed themselves on the wound on his chest and attempted to remove in fabric from the wound as tears returned to my eyes and I nodded my head. The pain was intense, but I could handle it, for now at least. His hands encased my wrists and held them up as he staggered to his feet. I was relieved to see he could stand. Still holding my wrists, he gently tugged until I could raise myself up. We finally had a good look around ourselves. It was all forest on all sides. The plane parts were small and scattered mostly behind us.

A sudden violent gust of wind swept the thick, black smoke in our direction and I began to choke on the air. My heaving chest and my injury caused my knees to buckle weakly but before I could fall, Edward had both of his arms around my waist, holding me firmly to him. My head slumped forwards onto his chest and I whimpered again.

"What do we do?" I asked.

His voice was growing strongly in determination. "Bella, do you trust me?"

My answer was instinctual, honest. "Yes."

"I want you to stay here. I'm going to… look around over by the plane. Okay?"

I knew in an instant what his true intentions were, and there was no way I was letting him go alone. "You're going to look for survivors." It was not a question.

Edward's eyes grew sombre. "I am."

"I'm coming with you."

"No you're not. You're injured, you need to lie down and keep still." He was getting frustrated.

"Edward, I am fine. I can walk, okay? Please."

"It's out of the question. You could get hurt even more."

"Please, don't leave me here alone." His eyes softened at my words and he huffed, but miraculously, he relented.

"Fine, but take it easy, okay?"

"I promise."

He manoeuvred one arm around my waist and supported most of my weight. We walked to the edge of the thick forest to the far left of the flames. The forest was in carnage. We were only feet from the nearest plane part. We continued onwards until the pieces of metal became an entire section of the passenger tube. There were towering flames and thick smoke that rose above the treetops and into the fading blues of the afternoon sky. I pulled free from Edward's arms and flew as fast as I was capable to the nearest small, circular window and peered inside. What I saw was devastating.

The roof had remained intact, so all of the useless oxygen masks still hung over every seat. Many of the passengers, those who had managed to remain in their seats, were slumped forwards, straining against their seatbelts. The overhead storage compartments had opened and poured their contents all over the aisles. The tail of the plane had severed from the main tube and was nowhere to be seen. As I came to this realization I recalled the three stewards of the flight having retreated behind the back partition.

I noticed Edward coming up behind me and I whispered without turning my head from the window.

"The tail's gone."

I turned as he nodded. "I think it might be on the other side of the clearing. That could be how we ended up where we did." That made some sense. Inside the tube came a cry.

Adrenaline shot through my body so quickly I was almost giddy. Edward was already racing towards the back of the section and pushing his body through the broken carnage. I hurried after him and he disappeared in the wreckage. When I entered, stumbling over fallen luggage and the collapsed and crumbling walls, Edward was leaning over a seat to the immediate left of our entrance point. The cry was constant, and with a sickening realization I recognized the cry as to be that of a child. Edward's low murmuring was soothing as he tried to placate the frantic child. When I finally looked over the headrest into the row, I saw the child I had noticed as we where still in the air.

He was no more than two or three years old, and had shining blonde curls and bright blue eyes sparkling with a steady flow of tears. His arms were tight around his knees as he sat curled up into a ball in an other wise empty row. I steeled myself against the knowledge that he may no longer have a mother.

His tiny jeans were bloodied around his knee, his blue and green striped polo-shirt was torn on one sleeve, but he was other-wise not hurt, physically. I reached forward and his piercing, tormented eyes latched onto my own and he gave out a strangled sob. I placed my right hand on his wet cheek.

"What's your name, honey?" His sobbing quietened as he gulped in deep steadying breaths. His tiny voice, amidst this horror, was painfully innocent.

"Noah."

"Noah, my name is Bella. This is Edward. We're gonna get you out of here, okay?" He glanced fearfully around him and nodded, then spoke.

"Where's my mommy?" I stole a glance at Edward and saw him looking nervously back. How did we answer that? I took the easy way out, I lied.

"Your mommy is fine, sweetie. She's real good. But can I take you outside first?" He nodded once more and I reached over the arm-rest and put my hands around his tiny arms and hoisted him gently over. At once, his arms curled around my neck and his legs around my waist and he began to sob again into my shoulder. I hugged him back fiercely. A silent request by Edward instructed me to take Noah outside.

As I passed him, he whispered into my ear.

"Keep him out there, please. He doesn't need to see his mother, or anyone else. I'll look for her, and for any others. Keep yourselves safe."

"If you need me, call. I'll keep him calm, he's just really shaken. His mother… I hope to God she's…" I sniffled slightly and averted my tearing eyes. This was all just so much to comprehend. Edward placed a hand on my cheek to sooth me, and it worked. He tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear and gulped in a preparing breath.

"Go. Listen for help."

"I will." With that, I retreated out the back end of the plane, but I couldn't stop myself from looking over those last few rows of seats before the back partition, beyond which was missing.

Before I could exit, there was an deep, pained groan to my left. Startled, I swung around to the source of the noise, Noah jostling lightly in my hold. The top of a mop of curly brown hair swung upwards from it's resting place on the person's shoulder. The man's entire frame shuddered and he was breathing rapidly. I called out behind me.

"Edward! Over here!" I had barely moved three steps from where we stood so in an instant Edward was reaching over the painfully obvious dead body at the aisle and scrambling in front the man. I again remembered him from the flight. He had been sitting in the seat directly in front of Edward, it was his headrest I had been clutching before I fell onto Edward's lap. It was the same man I had seen sobbing into his hands moments before the crash. He was young, perhaps in his early twenties. His hulking, muscled form was shaking in fear. Edward had both hands on his shoulders, gently gripping to get his attention.

"Hey man, are you okay?"

"What the… what the hell… happened?" His voice was deep and loud even in it's weakened form.

Edward's eyes grew sad as he murmured: "We crashed."

The man groaned once more and shifted his eyes over to where I stood and took the sight of Noah and I in. He glanced back at Edward. "Are there…any other survivors?"

"We don't know. We just got here, we woke up outside. Are you hurt? What's your name?"

"It's Emmett. McCarty. My head's a bit sore, but everything's intact." He winced as he shifted his body forwards.

"I'm Edward Masen. This is Bella, and Noah. We heard him cry from outside." Edward's voice dropped to a whisper. "We haven't found his mom yet." Emmett nodded in sad understanding and made to stand. He held onto Edward's shoulders to support himself but made the mistake of glancing to his left and right. The sight of the two bodies repulsed him and he grimaced.

"I'll help you look, man."

"I was telling Bella to take Noah outside. He's pretty shaken."

"That's a good idea."

I spoke up as I turned to exit once more. "Remember, call."

When I reached the fresher air of the open forest I looked at the little boy who was clamped tightly around me. I walked to a fallen trunk of the tree, and forcing myself to focus only on him and not our surroundings, our crash, the horror of the cloud, I sat and shifted him forwards on my knees to get a good look at his angelic face. His cries had ceased and he was sitting wide-eyed, tearful, staring at my face.

I had to distract him, to take his mind of what was surely torturing him, his mother.

"How old are you, little buddy?"

"Two years old. Mommy said it was my birthday soon. Near Jesus' birthday, she said." His face remained blank and dejected.

"So you'll be three, huh? Where are you from?"

He nodded weakly and replied. "Phoenix. Daddy lives in Seattle, and Mommy was taking me to see him and the new baby with Auntie Kelly. I got a new sister last week!" His mind was becoming sufficiently distracted and he began to smile as he thought of his new baby sister, and told me of her.

"She came when I was in nursery school on Friday. Her name is Carly."

I broke my heart to the very core as Noah spoke excitedly of his new sister in Seattle. The horror of what had happened began to hit me and I shuddered and began to cry silently. Noah immediately stopped his chatter and placed both tiny hands on my cheeks.

"Bella, why are you sad?"

I forced a large smile onto my face. "Nothing, buddy. I'm okay."

He looked downwards to the blood on my t-shirt and frowned. He narrowed his eyes to me. "You're hurt, Bella." The action was so like Edward that I chuckled involuntarily, then felt immediately ashamed at allowing myself to. It wasn't the time or the place to even think happy thoughts.

"I'm okay, Noah. Really I'm…" I heard screaming. I snapped my head to the direction where they originated, but it wasn't the plane. They were coming from the general direction of the clearing. I pulled Noah tighter to me and stood, encasing him in my arms. The screams were distinctly female and there was only one voice. I moved forwards into the open, bright meadow and looked around. The entire area was empty. The screams were nearby so I continued east to the other side of the meadow, where the trees were clumped together more tightly than it's opposite side. Bursting out of the trees was a tall red form. She was the person who was screaming. Her flowing blonde hair was filled with twigs and leaves and one side of her skirt was turn up to her thigh, revealing a shallow, yet long cut that reached her knee. I immediately recognized her as one of the two stewardesses, who had been behind the partition at our end of the plane. She gazed around wildly, fearful. Her eyes found mine and she whipped her head behind her.

"JASPER! I found somebody!"

There was a muffled reply from the trees. "Who is it?!"

"A passenger! Two!" Her focus turned back to me. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine. He's fine, too. There's two guys back in the plane, looking for others."

"How many have they found so far?"

"I don't know. They handed me Noah, here, and told me to take him outside." I mouthed the next part of my answer. "His mother…" I shook my head sadly. "How many of you are back there?"

"Me, Jasper and Esme. But she's hurt, real bad. She's conscious, but really disorientated and has a broken leg and ribs and…" She trailed off and shook her head. "We need to get to the plane, check on the captain…"

I walked forwards and Noah clung tighter. "I'm Bella Swan, this is Noah."

"Rosalie. Rosalie Hale. Jasper Whitlock and Esme Evenson."

"My friend, Edward Masen, is back in the plane. We woke up just in the clearing there. We found the plane, and we found Noah. A big guy, Emmett McCarty, came to whilst we were in there. He's helping Edward look for survivors."

Rosalie Hale sucked in a deep breath and turned into the trees to her fellow stewards. I followed her in. Lying behind a large trunk was the kind woman who had shown me my seat, Esme. Her eyes were falling shut every few seconds and she forced herself to stay conscious. Blood stained her leg. The southern steward, who I now knew was Jasper, was on his knees at her head, gently holding her hand in his to sooth her. He looked up and recognition flooded his face.

"I can carry her, if we need to move."

I nodded in agreement. There was a muffled yell from the direction of the plane. I heard my name and turned, but beyond was still shaded by the thick layers of trees. My name was called again. I broke free of the trees and into the meadow. Edward was in the centre, turning around in the spot, calling my name over and over.

"Edward, I'm here." He whipped to face me so fast, he blurred. His face was drowned in relief and he sprinted over and placed one hand on my shoulder and the other on Noah's arm.

"Where were you? I came out and you were gone."

Rosalie walked into the sunlight behind me, Jasper (carrying Esme) in tow. Edward's eyes widened in shock then understanding. I spoke to him.

"I heard screaming. The back of the plane landed behind those trees. That's Rosalie, Jasper and Esme. Esme's hurt, she needs a hospital."

"So do you."

"Edward, I'm fine. For now anyway. Where's Emmett?"

"He's… sitting down over there…" His eyes were overcome with grief and my breathing stilled.

"…The plane?"

"Nobody."

"None?"

"Only us."

My chest began to heave and Noah started sobbing in alarm at my reaction. Edward immediately had us in his arms, whispering to me that everything was going to be okay. But I shook my head, nothing was going to be okay. Everything was wrong. Noah's mother was dead. Everybody was dead. Seattle was probably wiped out. God knows who else. The world for all we knew lay in ruins, except this tiny forest.

Rosalie began marching forwards, straight across the clearing and into the trees. We watched her go.

Edward led me across the clearing after her and Jasper followed us. Emmett was sitting on the trunk I had been on not long before, his head in his hands, but turned to watch Rosalie continue to half stalk, half run forward, past the passenger tube. He stood as we marched in after and joined us as we followed. We continued about 70 feet when we found Rosalie standing still, staring into the mangled metallic remains of the cockpit, buried into the ground.

Tears were streaming down her face and her body shook with grief. She sank to her knees on the ground. Emmett inched cautiously past us and walked closer to her and placed one large hand on her shoulder. She didn't acknowledge his presence. He sank to his knees beside her, and placed one arm around her shoulder.

Her body slacked and curled into his, this stranger, as she cried.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer? Anyway. Don't own Twilight, the lucky Stephenie Meyers does. I just play with the cast occasionally (:**

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Chapter 3

(BPOV)

The afternoon sunshine had faded into early evening, and the warming sun dipping below the tree tops to the west gave the flames an extra red glow. The beauty of the forest surrounding us, bathed in the muted colours of an early sunset, was astounding, yet I found myself incapable on focusing on it for long.

Rosalie's grief-stricken sobbing had gradually ceased and she allowed Emmett to hoist her gently to her feet and guide her to the tree trunk to sit and rest, one of his muscled arms still draped comfortingly around her shoulders. Edward and Jasper were in hushed conversations over by the remains of the cockpit, any initial awkwardness on having just met (especially under the given circumstances) had quickly evaporated as they concocted a method of getting the remainder of our little group to safety and to civilisation. Whatever that meant now.

Esme was lying on the softest area of grass that we could locate, our coats and jackets tucked neatly beneath her, and Emmett's larger sweater on top to keep her warm and comfortable. I sat on the ground beside her, with Noah on my lap, engaging her in any conversation to keep her conscious while the guys figured out what to do. Her voice was weak and strained, but determined to be heard as she told me of her hometown of Columbus, Ohio and what it was like to grow up there.

"My mother was an amazing cook. She insisted on a home cooked meal every night. It was a family thing, a tradition she'd had herself as a child. My father loved it too and flew through the front door everything evening, kissed my mother on the cheek and sat down, ravenous." Esme sighed wistfully as she remembered her past. Her face was heart-shaped and soft, with delicate dimples appearing every time she smiled. The only imperfection was the narrow, and what appeared shallow, gash that ran from the lobe of her left ear to her jaw line. She radiated warmth, care and kindness and all kinds of motherly vibes.

Noah had fallen asleep as Esme had told me of her family, and as he stirred lightly in my arms (though remaining deeply under) she lifted her eyes to his peaceful face. Her voice came out as barely a whisper.

"I have a son." At this declaration, the tears appeared instantly in her sad eyes. "His birthday is actually next week, December 5th. He'll be ten years old, you know." Her watery smile was back and she was looking beyond my shoulder into the warmth of the skies. She shut her eyes gently, then proceeded to squeeze them shut as she sucked in a deep, strengthening breath, wincing slightly at the pain this caused her ribs. She seemed to be trying to gain some control over herself, but she was unable to prevent a single tear from escaping her shut eye and falling downwards into her hair.

I froze slightly, unaware of how to deal with this. I glanced up at Emmett and Rosalie, who had been joined by Edward and Jasper at the trunk and were all in quiet conversation. They would occasionally focus their gazes on Esme and I, and all I could guess was that we were the two who were most injured and they were discussing what was going to be done about it. On the forest floor, Esme had seemingly collected herself and was looking at Noah fondly.

"Is he yours?"

My reply was soft, as not to wake him. "No."

Her gaze returned to me and she looked on quizzically. "No?" Her eyes then flickered to the rest of the group.

"Noah sat across the aisle from Edward and I on the flight, in the back row. He was with his mother. After we woke up in the clearing, we made our way to the plane and heard him crying from inside. We went in, and he was alone. We couldn't see his mother. She's…" I averted my eyes as the tears welled up once more at this poor, possibly orphaned, young boy.

Esme picked up what I had meant to say, even in her slightly concussed mental state, and sighed lightly. "My son, Carl, died when he was only a few days old."

I blinked in shock once more. Did she not say he was ten years old?

Always perceptive, she interpreted my silence for confusion. "I remember what I said. I celebrate his birthday every year, it was the best day of my life, having Carl." The tears did not return to her eyes, but they retained a look of monumental sadness and grief. "He was just… so early. My doctor estimated that he was due in April, but on December 4th, I went into premature labour. He was so tiny, so weak. For those few days he was with me, he was my angel. But after only being inside me for 5 months, it wasn't enough." She paused briefly to wipe the glistening tears from her cheeks. "When he died, a large part of me died with him."

I reached one shaking hand to cover her own and she smiled weakly at me, and continued her story. I found myself enraptured by her tragic tales.

"I named Carl after someone special. When I was 16, the summer before junior year, the empty house next door was finally filled. A family came over from London, and they had a son who was my age. His name was Carlisle. We became friends within hours of meeting. He was charming and kind and compassionate, and I quickly became crazy about him. My hormones got the better of me that summer." Esme's eyes had lost their sadness, and filled with warm nostalgia.

"There was one evening that I will never forget. It was well past midnight, but I was too keyed up to sleep and I snuck out of the house and into the back yard. We had a huge tree that linked our property, and Carlisle's. It had an old tree house in it, from my younger days. I clambered up, and sat there facing our houses. Every window was cloaked in darkness, except one, in their home on the second storey. I saw movement inside and craned my body a little around a branch that was in my way when I lost my balance and fell. Whoever was in that window suddenly flung it open and yelled, "Don't move, I'm coming!"."

Remembering her past life seemed to be sufficiently distracting Esme, as it was the goal to do, but I found myself eager to hear more and quickly pressed for information. I could admit to myself that the stories were sufficiently distracting for myself as well.

"Was it Carlisle?"

She nodded, grinning now. "Yes. He flew out of his back door into his yard and climbed up the tree himself and landed by my head on my own side of the fence. It was only then the shock started to fade and I started feeling the pain. The feeling in my leg was agonizing and I started writhing. He kind of froze for a second, then scooped me up, ran out of my gate and back to his own house where he stole his father's car keys and drove me to the ER without even leaving a note." She had begun laughing lightly now, but I was still unable to join her in that. Her eyes then lost all of their mirth.

"We were together for a year, but when we were 17 his father's aunt back home in London got sick, and they both had no choice but to return and look after her. We had to be fairly realistic about our relationship. I knew that he wanted to study medicine back in England anyway, so I ended things and it was heartbreaking. We kept in touch for a year or so, but we grew apart. But I still love him, with all my heart and our year together was one of the best chapters of my life. I never regretted it, despite us being apart now. So when I had my son, I named him after the only other man in my life that I loved as much as my baby."

I was shocked to find tears flowing silently down my cheeks when Esme concluded her story.

"I didn't mean to upset you, dear." Her motherly endearments were heartbreaking now that I knew what had happened to her. I couldn't comprehend what she had felt at the loss of her child, of a part of herself. I was finding it difficult simply to let Noah stand on his own beside me, and I had only just met him and he wasn't even my own. I had never really thought about having children myself, but presented with a child in need and a lot of my own instincts seemed to have made themselves known.

"I'm okay, really, Esme. It's just… tragic, what happened. I'm so sorry."

"I am too."

Our conversation was halted as Edward approached us. His face looked sombre and resigned, slightly defeated, but none the less determined. He sat himself down beside us and sighed deeply.

"Jasper's insisting we get moving. It's going to get dark, and it's freezing and if we have any hope on getting to at least better shelter… I told him that travelling would be foolish, what with you and Esme being injured…"

"Edward, I am fine." I said, removing one hand from Noah's slumbering form and placing it lightly over the wound in his chest, in comfort. His pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, but Edward was a smart man and knew to pick his battles and he placed his own hand over mine, removed it from it's place but kept it tightly between both of his own. Besides, right now, this was the least of his issues.

"Fine, but Esme's still hurt and it's risky to move her a lot. We have no idea where we are, and how far it is to a town or a…"

The small snippet of memory came back to me so fast that my breathing hitched, audibly. Edward's eyes flew to mine in concern and worry.

"Bella?"

"Sirens!"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Earlier! After I woke up, and you were still out. I heard faint noises, but I was a bit out of it myself and didn't think much of it. But they were sirens!"

Edward's eyes flashed with hope, then caution. "Bella, are you sure? You were just awake, your ears could have been ringing just or…"

"My hearing was fine, Edward. I heard them. There was definitely something, of that much I am positive." I shut my eyes in concentration and channelled some basic geography knowledge. I whipped my head toward the clearing, then up to the darkening sky. The sun rises in the… and sets in the… dammit, I can't remember.

"Which way's west, Edward?"

He didn't even raise his gaze from my face, and lifted his uninjured arm in the direction of the cockpit. "That way."

"Right, okay. That ways west." I shut my eyes once more and focused. "If I remember right, then when I awoke, the fire was to my right. So when I sat up, I faced south. The sirens sounded as if they were a few miles away maybe, to the south-east. Does that help any?"

Edward was also deep in concentration. "It does. At least if we head south-east then, we'll hit road eventually." I was amazed he trusted me.

"Then lets do that."

"Bella…"

"It's our only chance. We can think of a way to move Esme safely."

"What if we hit road and whatever was there is gone and we're miles from the nearest town or gas station?"

"Edward, if we stay here, there's no food. It'll get cold and dark and… it's our only hope."

He ran one muddied and bloodied hand through that extraordinary bronze hair, causing it to stick up in all directions. He motioned for Jasper to join us, and told him of my revelation on how to get us out of here.

He nodded enthusiastically and agreed with me whole-heartedly and after several more discussions, foraging in the plane remains for extra layers of clothing (from carry-on bags, we couldn't remove clothing from the passengers) we were almost ready to begin our trek through this unfamiliar forest.

Emmett emerged triumphant from the passenger tube remains with the tiny bathroom's door. It was relatively short and narrow, but we figured, so was Esme.

The door was set on the forest floor, and Jasper hurried forwards, dropping to his knees softly on the grass next to Esme's face and spoke to her gently. She was conscious and hopefully she would remain so.

"Esme, see that big guy? That's Emmett McCarty. A passenger. We're going to put you on the door, and you have to promise me you will keep as still as you can. Emmett and I will carry you." I saw briefly a fierce protectiveness gleaming in Jasper's eyes as he spoke to Esme on the grass, who was nodding slowly at him.

He sucked in a deep breath and slid his right arm tenderly under her neck and his left even more gentle underneath her knees. He moved slowly, with caution, and gradually raised himself upwards. I saw Esme shut her eyes quickly in pain and wince at the movement, but she refused to let herself utter a single sound. I was in awe at her ability to place Jasper's emotional well-being above her own comfort. She would have hated to make him feel guilty on causing her pain.

He knelt forwards onto his knees from his crouched position, and laid her body on the door that had been covered by a large blanket that had been found in the tail of the plane, the kind of blanket sold to passengers for sleeping.

"Careful." Rosalie called.

We had taken a blanket for each of us, to add to the warmth we needed that our jackets might not be able to fully provide once night fell. Esme was given several. We had also discovered some slightly dirtied, but none-the-less in one piece, bottles of water and they had been placed in my carryon. Edward and Emmett each had their own carryon luggage safely attached to themselves also.

Edward came over to me from Esme's make-shift stretcher and reached for the still sleeping toddler in my arms wordlessly. I was reluctant to hand him over, savouring the warm weight of his tiny body against my own.

"I'm unwillingly letting you walk on your own Bella. At the very least let me carry Noah." He smiled slightly, but it wasn't his true dazzling grin, but that was to be understood completely. It felt… wrong to show any form of positive emotion given the circumstances.

"Fine."

I sighed, defeated and transferred the sleeping child to Edward's capable arms. My heart melted slightly at the sight.

"What do you think will. happen to him? When we get to.. wherever we're going."

Edward's warm eyes found mine and from within them shone a sadness, and something else I couldn't quite decipher. He slowly moved side to side, rocking the tiny boy in comfort. My heart was throbbing. Edward was twenty one years old, he had confided in me as much, but he looked as if he had been doing it all his life.

"I don't know what will happen, when we get out of here. We can't just leave him alone, can we? He's already lost his mother, and we don't know who else he has." He grew frustrated. "We don't know where we _are_."

I lifted one hand to the side of his breathtaking face, but I did not dwell on his beauty as I had before, or the now filled desire I had to touch his face or the tingling sensation I felt boiling my blood at the contact as once again I saw it to be completely the wrong time. I rubbed the pad of my thumb under his eyes and they drifted slowly shut under my touch, and he sighed softly, relaxing. His face leaned into my palm and he opened his eyes again, finding mine.

"I'm just.. so worried. God only knows what the world is like right now. I've been putting off thinking about what we will find, and just focusing on getting us there. I'm scared, Bella."

My heart broke at his utter hopelessness. I stood on my toes and wrapped my arm around his neck and pulled it closer. My voice was low and still slightly weak.

"You have been amazing for us, Edward. I would never have had the courage to do what you've done today. Whatever is out there, we will just have to deal with when we get there." My voice starting to lose it's strength and shook slightly. "Please don't worry too much Edward. If you get scared, what do you think I'll do? I'm terrified already."

He shook his head lightly and smiled ruefully. "You're right. We could do with worrying less and just doing. We really should get going, it's getting darker and colder by the second." I nodded and looked around for Edward's blanket by our feet. Lifting it up, I spread it wide and wrapped it tight around his shoulders and Noah's small form. I winced harshly at the pain this action caused in my abdomen, but my face was hidden as I stood behind Edward, so he didn't notice. He did not need to worry about me as well.

Once their blanket was secured, it was large enough to encase them both comfortably, I zipped up the dark grey hooded sweatshirt that Edward had handed me from his carryon. When I had protested, he assured me he had another and was indeed now wearing a too large black hoodie. But I was suspicious at the Emmett-like size of the jacket.

Wrapping my own blanket around my shoulders and adjusting my backpack, I heard Rosalie call out from beside the stretcher, where she was holding tight to Esme's hand.

"Bella. Edward. Are you guys ready?"

"Yeah, just about. You guys? Jasper?" I replied.

Jasper looked up from his crouched position in front of the stretcher, where he was waiting to standing and carry her. Emmett had his place at the back. They both were wrapped up in their blankets, having them tied tightly around at their chests to have their hands free. Rosalie had exchanged her red steward blazer for a black and white woollen coat that clashed badly with her red skirt, but she was past the point of caring.

Jasper called over. "We're ready, guys. Emmett? On the count of three?"

"Call it, man."

Within seconds, Esme was gently hoisted to lay suspended three feet above the ground. I heard her pant as the breath whooshed out of her body, but she remained mute. Rosalie came over, and in an almost shocking move of kindness and would not have expected from her, she wrapped one arm tight around my shoulders. I almost couldn't believe I thought so little of her upon first glance when boarding the plane.

Jasper took on a voice of command and spoke to us as a group.

"We have a general idea, as I've said, of where to head. We're thinking it's a few hours trek, nothing short of five miles we think and at the pace we're gonna have to move at… keep bundled up. It's gonna get dark and cold quite quickly. When we hit road, God willing we do and someone is there, we gotta get Esme and Bella checked out first. Okay?" We all agreed. "We have no flash-light, so no matter what, do not get yourself lost in these woods. We fare better taking this risk than staying here where there's no food. We don't know what's out there, but we must stick together. A united front. Let's pray they want us there."

And with that, Jasper and Emmett began to slowly move in the direction of where I had heard those sirens just a few short hours ago. We had assembled in the clearing before departure, and the light was brightest here, creating an illusion of hope. I calmed myself and hugged my left arm around Rosalie's woollen coat, and marched us over to Edward and Noah and tucked my other hand in the crook of his elbow that was bent to accommodate the child.

I didn't know who needed the reassurance more between us, but the contact seemed to relax my nerves and I saw Edward visibly deflate beside me. This connection we shared, I couldn't explain it. But I couldn't focus on this seemingly trivial matter at present. Survival was forefront on all of our minds.

I glanced up at his face and found him staring down at me.

"You ready?" He nodded.

"We'll be fine, we'll be out of here in no time." His voice didn't quite sell it, but I knew he was putting on a brave face for all of us. For me, for Noah, for Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and Esme. We were all doing it. Masking our fears and worries for the situation at hand. Getting out of this forest.

"Then let's get moving!" Rosalie whisper-yelled, still looking as if she was grieving. She trudged forward in a spare pair of chucks I'd given to her from my own carryon (my suitcase had been over-flowing back home) and her outfit was now mis-matched, but she still looked incredibly beautiful, her long blonde hair still flowing gently past her shoulders, her blue eyes radiant with unshed tears.

I moved beside her, Edward matching my pace. There was a sudden snap up ahead and we heard Emmett curse loudly. He whisper-yelled back to us.

"Just a branch, sorry!" It amazed me the consideration these strangers, myself included, gave to Noah having only just me him. My amazement was short-lived as Noah awakening became a distraction.

He mumbled softly and removed his head from the juncture between Edward's neck and shoulder to gaze around him. He appeared to be looking, but not seeing, as if he was still dreaming. He bypassed my face and stared intently over my shoulder. His little mouth opened in a silent gasp as he gazed intently at Rosalie.

His next word was heart-breaking.

"Mommy?" My eyes filled with tears and I noticed the same happened to Rosalie as she looked almost longingly at Noah. She shook her head lightly.

"Sorry, sweetie, I'm not your momma."

"Where… where's my mommy?"

"She's safe now." He was so trusting of us that he accept Rose's words without protest and buried his sweet little head back into Edward's chest, falling asleep quickly. I glanced back and forth from his face to Rosalie's in sadness. I could easily see his mistake. Rosalie could definitely pass as his mother. They shared their shining blonde hair and bright, alive blue eyes.

Rosalie's voice wobbled when she spoke.

"Come on, let's go. We don't want to lose the others."

We all continued forwards into the ever darkening forest.

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**Review if you have the time, pretty please!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer? Anyway. Don't own Twilight, the lucky Stephenie Meyers does. I just play with the cast occasionally (:**

**I feel guilty leaving the update so long. But the laptop charger broke and I only got it back yesterday!**

Chapter 4

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(BPOV)

Jasper and Edward had been right, with each step it seemed the Washington skies darkened one minute degree. I was mostly silent as we trekked, the events of the day were catching up and my energy level had drained. Given Rosalie's extra inches of height she had on me, I found it easy to rest my head against her shoulder. Every now and then Edward's eyes would flicker to mine in concern. But I was just tired, I was fine.

Jasper and Emmett's faint whispers were heard as they spoke of the one thing we had all yet to foray into in conversation as a group. The cloud. They swapped facts back and forth on what they both knew of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, debating on the social conditions we were likely to find once we reached more people. Esme was awake, as far as I could guess. Sporadically throughout the conversation, Jasper would turn his head slightly and ask Esme how she was feeling. Her answers were faint, but they were there.

Edward walked directly to my right, and my hand was still curled in his arm. It seemed that when his eyes would leave mine they were directly on Noah. It seemed like he felt he now had two weaker beings to protect. And I wasn't going to protest him because I certainly felt a need to be looked after right now. I needed something to cling to and never let go, I needed something to keep me anchored.

Rosalie walked in silence to me left with a faraway look in her eye. I thought better than to keep conversation with her, her expression made her thoughts look serious.

We had been walking for perhaps an hour or so when Emmett and Jasper requested a quick break to relax their arm muscles. A look of relief flickered across Edward's eyes and I suppressed a small smile at him.

"Edward, you could use the break too. Do you want me to take him," I jerked my head to the sleeping child in his arms, ".. for a little while?"

"I'd really rather you didn't, Bella." He said, with nothing but sincere concern on his face. I sighed a little, ready to reply, but Rosalie beat me to it.

"I.. I could take him?" It sounded like a question as she darted her eyes back and forth between us. I took a quick moment to realize she was asking permission, then I realized that the rest of our group somehow considered Edward and I as temporary parental figures for Noah. Then I realized that I did not object to this, not one little bit.

I snuck a peek at Edward and found more relief in his eyes. "Sure, Rosalie. That'd be great." He gently extracted Noah from his arms and settled him in with Rosalie. As he stretched his muscles I thought for a second that Rosalie's eyes had moistened, but she blinked and it was gone. Perhaps I was going delirious with exhaustion. The wind swept past us quickly and I shivered lightly. It went unnoticed by Edward and I quickly replaced Noah in his arms but with my feet planted firmly on the ground. It went unnoticed by me that this somehow felt like home.

After a quick ten minute break, we were moving again. I yawned widely and I heard Edward chuckle quietly.

"Are you tired?"

I smiled into the darkness. "Just a little." I said, yawning once more.

"Would you like me to carry you?"

"Of course not, Edward. I am fine, really. Besides, this is meant to be your break from carrying."

"But what if I wanted to carry you?"

I smirked slightly. "Too bad. I will not be the reason you're arms fall off."

He huffed a little and I giggled. "If I feel like I'm about to keel over, I'll let you know, okay?"

"That's all I ask." He asked with mock frustration, but I could hear the smile in his voice.

We settled once more into easy conversation, continuing to ignore the proverbial elephant in the room. We chose safe topics, such as our childhoods and high school. Our favourite subjects and a lot more on our classes at UW. The current nature of UW's existence did not come up. I felt safe in his arms. Protected.

Just like with the sirens revelation, as we spoke of our classes, a thought flew at me with enough ferocity to halt my movement. Edward's voice broke off mid-sentence.

"Bella, what is it?"

I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, and my heart lurched. His face was so pure and innocent, completely ignorant. It physically hurt me to ruin that for him.

It honestly seemed as if it had never crossed his mind. As if everything that had happened since we awoke had distracted him. Or maybe he was letting himself be distracted, not letting himself dwell or focus too long to truly consider it. I choked on a sob and he rubbed my back soothingly. It was almost irrational of me, to get this upset over someone I had never met. But this wasn't just any stranger.

"What is it, Bella, you're scaring me." He murmured.

"Oh my God, Edward.. Oh God… your… sis… Alice… she was in Se… the bomb…" My chest was heaving but I felt Edward's entire body go rigid. His jaw hung slack and his eyes… it was like looking into the eyes of a burning man. I never wanted to see it again. The truth had certainly hit him like the proverbial ton of bricks. I realised I was using the word proverbial often, but there was nothing real to compare these emotions to. The breath whooshed out of him and he sunk to his knees, pulling me with him. Jasper and Emmett stopped walking and turned their heads. Rosalie turned fully and looked on curiously.

"What is it?" She whispered. Noah slept on.

I ignored her question as I fought to keep Edward upright. He was gasping and crying. The sudden intense onslaught of emotions stunned me. I didn't know how to calm him. One moment he was talking quite happily about school and the next he was realising for the first time that his beloved twin sister was most likely dead. It broke my heart into infinite pieces, but I knew that was likely half of what Edward was feeling. I choked out how sorry I was into his hair as I rocked him on the ground, my arms tight around his shoulders. He clung to me as if I was all he had left in the world.

I don't know how long we sat on the ground exactly, but time passed. Esme was laid on the ground and she was crying silent tears at Edward's pain. Jasper was sitting cross-legged beside her and Emmett had settled Rosalie and Noah on the ground and the group of them talked quietly, giving Edward his time to grieve.

His shuddering sobs had slowed to quiet tears and after twenty minutes he sniffed at stood. The grief was replaced by a blank expression. His eyes had lost their glow. He swooped down and lifted me to my feet wordlessly.

"Edward, I am so sorry."

His eyes remained sad. "Don't be." He whispered, "This isn't your fault." I sniffled and put my arms around his waist. He held on tight and pressed his warm lips to my forehead. He needed someone to hold onto. He needed strength. I hoped I could provide that.

**

Several hours and several more rest-stops later, the surrounding forest was bathed in pitch black darkness. The drowsiness was threatening to over take me, but I fought to keep going onwards.

Noah had awoken and was currently being entertained by a very exhausted Emmett, and his infectious giggles had me smiling. Rosalie had bluntly refused to return Noah to Edward, stating that she enjoyed his company too much. I couldn't disagree with her. He made her happy.

Edward was quiet, retreated. I let him think.

Jasper checked his watch. "It's about half 7. We can't have too far left to go."

"How far do you think?" Emmett asked.

"Not too far. We can't hear anything really. No cars. But the trees are thinning, just a little."

We all murmured our agreement.

"What I wouldn't give for a hot shower and a bed right now…" Emmett pondered aloud. I yawned loudly and giggled at him. "You too, Bella?" He laughed.

Edward smiled weakly. "We all could use some sleep."

"I could sleep for like a week after this." I said.

"I could EAT for a week after this, then sleep." Rosalie moaned, and we all laughed. In truth, I was extremely hungry. The majority of us hadn't eaten since breakfast. Plane food had never appealed to me.

Our laughter was off, but it relaxed us slightly and we all launched into a conversation of the best meal we had ever eaten. Emmett seemed to have a long list and kept us entertained for a while. We were all so wrapped up in our conversation that we did not notice the faint sounds of car engines in the distance.

A bright white light swept across the trees and our eyes, temporarily blinding us. We halted in our steps and gasped. We were completely silent and I felt Edward's arms tighten protectively around me.

The light moved to be directed at the ground and we could finally see the source. A police cruiser. Beyond it was a two lane road that ended in a dead-end right where we stood. How on earth did we miss that till now.

A dark figure exited the cruiser and strode forward. Before he had the chance to speak, Jasper's voice rang loud and clear around us.

"Sir!" His voice was flooded with relief but trepidation. "We are.." His breath hitched. In the absence of his voice, the cop spoke.

"Survivors of the crash, we know."

"You do?"

"A lot of the town saw your plane, sir. I can only apologize that we did not reach you in there. Our vehicles cannot fit through the trees and we didn't think walking in without our equipment would help. We were trying to get hold of a helicopter but…"

"But what, officer?"

The cop blanched, his eyes widening. "Do you guys… do you know what happened out there?"

Emmett spoke up. "We have the general idea. It happened mid-flight." Before the conversation could continue, Edward spoke up loudly.

"Officer. Do you have a hospital in your town?"

This seemed to bring the officer back to the task at hand and he nodded rapidly.

"We have a clinic, it's a few miles from here." He strode back to his cruiser and spoke in the radio, requesting ambulances and the preparation of staff in the ER. The crackling voice from the car was faint.

"Officer Cheney, how many casualties?"

Officer Cheney looked up quickly and counted us. He then froze. "There are only… only seven of you? That survived?" We nodded grimly and he gasped. "Sweet Jesus."

He returned to his radio. "Eric, we have seven passengers here. We have a woman, late thirties I'm guessing who has several injuries…"

"And a possible concussion!" Jasper said quickly. Officer Cheney nodded.

"And a possible concussion, Eric. We have another young woman, early twenties, with a small abdominal wound. A young man with a chest laceration. That's all I can see from here. They all have small cuts and bruises but no one is critical." Radio Eric spoke up.

"Is that it, Ben?"

"Yes… Eric… that is it." He turned back to us.

"How far back is the crash site, sir?"

"Maybe five miles or so. To the north-west."

"Right, Eric. Five miles from the dead-end on the 101. Send two ambulances, and another cruiser to take these people to the hospital." He paused for a second. "And tell Angela I'll be back soon. Is she still in the station?"

"Yep. Hasn't left your office. Two ambulances and a cruiser on your way, Ben. I'm manning the radio for the next while, so you'll have Crowely coming to meet you. Most of the town is still at the high school with the Mayor but the EMT's are still awaiting our call for the crash."

"That's fine, Eric. Tell Tyler to hurry."

"Over and out, Chief."

Officer Ben Cheney turned to us and walked forward.

"We got EMT's on the way, and a cruiser to take the rest of you to the clinic. After what happened earlier on today, the entire town is packed in the high school waiting on news. We physically had to restrain some of the men from wandering to you in the forest. We had no idea how far in you guys were and didn't know what to do. We do apologize."

"That's okay, Officer." Jasper said. "No life was lost out there waiting. It's been only us since the second we crashed."

I called out, "Waiting on the news, Officer? What have you heard? What happened exactly?"

He shifted uneasily and a look of devastation and grief haunted his features. "We don't know details, not yet. Our radios aren't working well and we only pick up sporadic voices through the static. We sent a few cars north and south to neighbouring towns to see if anybody knows anything."

There was a tense silence.

"Whatever happened today… it changed the world."

Up ahead, two ambulances came into view, sirens blaring. Noah was startled by the sudden commotion and started crying in Rosalie's arms. They halted behind the cruiser and paramedics in mint-green uniforms leapt from the doors and over to us. Edward quickly took control and walked me forward.

"Bella has an abdominal wound, there's something small and metal sticking out." Beside us Jasper and Emmett were handing off Esme to the other two paramedics.

"Ma'am," The EMT called to me, "Let's get you looked at, okay?" I nodded and the EMT put his arm behind my back and moved me gently forward. I grasped onto Edward's hand.

"Don't leave me." I slurred in my dreariness, the tears forming. I was scared. And so tired. Without question, he followed beside me to the ambulance where I was laid back onto the bed in the back. The exhaustion was rapidly descending on me once more and the comfort of the mattress caused my consciousness to slowly ebb away. I heard a velvety voice I would now know anywhere call my name frantically as I succumbed to the darkness and slept.

**

I was getting pretty fed up with passing out against my will. As much as I'd needed rest, I needed more to know what was going on. I awoke this time however in a soft bed, rather than the cold, hard floor of the forest. I registered the warmth of a blanket and the softness of a pillow beneath my head. For a moment, I thought everything had been a dream and I was back home, in Seattle, in my own bed. But as I tried to sit up, I felt a tug on my hand.

I glanced down in horror at the IV plugged into me. I despised needles. I took in my surroundings quickly. I was most definitely in a hospital ER ward. The pastel coloured curtains surrounded me on three sides. I noticed with distaste the tight white bandaging around my middle. But I figured I was loaded on pain killers, as I couldn't feel the discomfort. I was still in my jeans and t-shirt but my shoes were sitting on the floor and the hooded sweatshirt I wore was draped over an arm-chair. Under the sweatshirt was a body.

I sighed in relief to see Edward, curling up on the bed in his jeans and a new, charcoal, long-sleeved t-shirt. He was tucked into himself, snoring softly and I reached out and ran my IV-free hand through his soft hair in comfort. He moaned quietly and sighed, raising his head and blearily opened his eyes. Upon seeing my awake face, he brightened instantly.

"Hi there." He whispered.

I smiled. "Hi yourself. I'm sorry I woke you, Edward."

"Not a problem. I'm just happy you're awake, and okay." I smiled again and ran my hand from his hair to cup his face and he leaned into my palm.

"How are you feeling, Bella?"

I took stock of my body and everything appeared in working order. My stomach was delightfully numb.

"I actually feel pretty good. But I'm assuming that's the drugs."

A small smile ghosted over his lips. Something occurred to me.

"How long have I been asleep?"

He lifted a wrist from under the sweatshirt and checked his watch. Looking up, he said "It's just past 3am. Seven hours, maybe?"

"Wow. Where are the others? How's Esme?"

"Esme is just on the other side of that curtain." He pointed behind him. "She's with… well someone who seems to know her. She's been out of it since the ambulance though. Jasper and Emmett are across the aisle, getting some sleep but they had no injuries. Rosalie was sleeping, but she left a few hours ago when one of the nurses offered to get her a change of clothes. She's probably back by now."

"Noah?"

"Asleep, curled up to Emmett."

"How are _you,_ Edward?" Many emotions flashed across his face. Grief. Pain. Worry. He settled on an ancient sadness.

"I am okay. They stitched up my chest and the doctor with Esme gave me a shirt from his locker." He looked lost and it was devastating.

I scooted over in the bed and held out my arms to him. "Come here."

He stood quickly and I pulled him into my embrace. I pulled the blankets over us, and he lay beside me with his head over my heart. He was careful to avoid my bandaging. I wrapped my arms tight around his broad shoulders and ran one hand soothingly over his back. He sighed, sadly.

"Everything's gonna be alright, you know?" I whispered into his soft hair. Our legs were tangled, denim against denim under the sheets. "Me and you. We're gonna be fine. We'll get through this. The world has to get through this."

He sniffled lightly against the fabric of my t-shirt. "There's been no news yet. Ben was in here not long before I passed out on the chair."

"Hmmm."

As we lay there, Edward's breathing evened out and he was quickly sleeping once more in my arms.

I was reasonably astounded at this. I looked past all of the horrific events of the day and focused on the man asleep in a hospital bed with me. I had met him only sixteen hours or so before. And yet, some how, this felt normal. Feeling his warm weight against me felt like it belonged there. I could barely imagine my life before the plane, because he wasn't in it. He dominated my mind and soul so completely now.

I vividly recalled the conversation with my mother, Renee, about her concern that I was still single at my age. I had told her that I just wasn't interested. That I did not need a man in my life right now. I was an independent woman. But now, losing Edward from my side would feel like losing half of myself. I couldn't fathom it. It was mostly certainly… just weird. And new. I loved it. I couldn't imagine not knowing him.

As much as I loved it, it scared me a little. When did I become so dependant? Never. I was the mature person in my household growing up. Renee was eccentric and Charlie was sports-mad. I had been preparing most of our meals since I was 13.

I ignored all these thoughts I just relished in the warmth and safety I felt right at that moment. I was quickly asleep once more.

**

I awoke abruptly an hour later. Officer Cheney had pulled back our curtain and was peeking in timidly. I smiled at him.

"What do you need, Officer?"

"Call him Ben, please." A young, pretty brunette who could not be much older than myself walked out from behind him. She a kind, genuine smile on her face. "I'm Angela Cheney, the chief's wife."

My eye-brows shot up quickly. She understood.

"We're really young, I know. Ben's dad, my father-in-law, is the actual chief. He took a long over-due vacation from the force." She grinned. "I brought you a change of clothes, Isabella."

I smiled widely. "Thank-you, Angela. And it's Bella, please."

"Okay, Bella. Let's get you cleaned up." I looked down at Edward, who was still snoring in my arms and I sighed. Extracting myself gently I stood on the cold floor. A nurse bustled in a removed my IV. Edward murmured intelligibly in his sleep and groped the bed looking for me, but sighed and continued sleeping. I followed Angela down the aisle, past the sleeping forms of Emmett, Noah and Jasper, and to the doctor's changing room.

"I guessed you were my size. I hope you don't mind, these were the only clean clothes I had on short notice." She handed me a Jimmy Eat World band tee and I giggled at her. I washed my arms and face in the washroom and felt a lot better in a clean shirt. She gave me fresh socks, a hairbrush and hair elastic and a toothbrush and small half empty tube of tooth-paste. I was insanely grateful.

"I would've helped out your friend, Rosalie. But she got to one of the nurses quite quickly." Angela laughed. "The nurse barely knew what hit her. She was almost dragged to her car."

"Thank you, for helping us, Angela. And your husband, and the entire town."

Huh. I still didn't know what town this was.

"Hey Angela. Where exactly are we, anyway?"

"A lovely little town named Forks." She smiled sarcastically. "We are only 15 miles from the west Washington coast. East of us are the mountains."

"Huh. Forks. Never heard of it."

"It's nothing spectacular, but it's home-"

She was cut short by Rosalie throwing the door open with a crash. She looked at us, her eyes wide with anticipation.

"Bella. One of the cars came back. They found out everything. Everyone is meeting at the high school again, we gotta go!"

And with that, she turned and partly ran back to wherever she'd appeared from. I stood in shock for a moment, then turned to Angela. Her face was resigned and sad. We had needed some sort of news, but we didn't really want to hear our knowledge confirmed. I laced my arm through hers.

I returned to my bed and found Edward sitting up, wide-eyed, scared. He jumped up and came over and handed me my shoes. I thanked him and put my arm around his waist. He tightened his arm around my shoulder as we walked to the waiting room where Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, Noah and several members of the public were seated. A doctor came over from the desk and greeted Edward and I.

"I'm Doctor Carlisle Cullen. I'll be staying with Esme Evenson, keeping an eye on her while you guys head into town. A few townsfolk offered to give you a ride over." He nodded toward the man and woman.

"Seth, Emily." The two nodded with their names. "You can work our among yourselves as to who rides with who." He turned to me. "Take it easy Ms Swan, okay?" I nodded, rolling my eyes a little. Some people worry far too much.

We drove in silence to the high school. Edward, Jasper and I rode with Seth. Rosalie, Emmett and Noah rode with Emily. When we arrived, the crowds were sprawled across the parking lot. As we exited the cars, everyone turned to look at us and the majority smiled in encouragement.

We joined the crowd. Officer Cheney arrived from the hospital in his cruiser with Angela and all attention was abruptly focused on them. A general murmur rang loud through the group of people. Ben lifted a megaphone from the back seat of the car and climbed to stand on the steps leading to the school office.

The electronic ringing was loud as the megaphone switched on. The sound of the crowd ceased quickly and there was a deafening silence. Ben's voice pierced the cold night air.

"Attention everybody." His said this uselessly. Everybody was already focused intently on him. "We now have word of what happened today. This is… this is not easy to say. A nuclear bomb went off just outside of Seattle at 1:14 pm yesterday afternoon." Women screamed and men began yelling in panic. Ben silenced them.

"That is not all, folks."

"Not all?!" A middle-aged woman shrieked from the crowd.

Ben looked weary. "No it is not. At 1:14 pm yesterday afternoon, nuclear bombs detonated in Seattle and twenty other cities in north America."

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	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer? Anyway. Don't own Twilight, the lucky Stephenie Meyers does. I just play with the cast occasionally (:**

**A cute, confused and sleepy Edward is just so adorable! And WOW, I didn't wait for like... a month to update. Personal record!**

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Chapter 5

(BPOV)

The entire population of Forks, my fellow crash survivors and myself, were frozen in shock. The news was so surreal. This was the type of catastrophe Hollywood movies were made of, not real life. The full implications were hard to fathom. After the brief silence, pandemonium erupted.

There was screaming, crying, yelling and just… pain. My jaw hung slack and my eyes were wide in disbelief. A quick glance around me confirmed that my fellow survivors shared the same expression. Rosalie was whispering "Oh my god.." over and over as she clung to Emmett, who I saw was crying unashamedly.

Noah untangled his hand from Rosalie and stumbled over to me, grasping onto the denim at my knee. Before I could reach him, Edward had knelt quickly and used his free arm to hoist the little boy onto his hip. His face was just as shocked and his mind seemed to be going a mile a minute. Before we had a chance to speak, Officer Ben's voice rang out across the crowd.

"Attention, everybody. ATTENTION!" The chaos ceased quickly, and a few thousand pairs of eyes turned to him once more.

"What cities, Officer!?" The woman from before called out frantically.

"We don't know all of the details, Mrs Stanley." There was a sudden wave of yelling at this.

"WHAT WE KNOW…" Ben started loudly to regain control and silence. "What we know from Port Angeles is that twenty one nuclear explosions occurred. We know that… that…"

He took a deep breath, and spoke quickly.

"The only cities we know for sure are San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, St George and Denver. Satellite images from Houston estimated on twenty-one bombs, it could be slightly more or less. We don't know. We do know that California, Washington, Utah, Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Maryland and Indiana were in some way hit. They were nearly positive on Arizona, Texas and Massachusetts. Some of the bombs were bigger than others." He paused for breath, and the entire crowd seemed to be holding theirs in too.

"The guys that went up to Port Angeles said the government or whoever is left is still trying to get the names of cities and areas affected as best they can. They left one of the group up there to call us back with any new information. We know of five cities specifically, and seven other states. They know of nine more bombs, but we still haven't got that information."

The young girl beside Mrs Stanley, who appeared to be her pre-teen daughter, cuddled into her mother. Mrs Stanley hugged her arm around the girl and said aloud, "So what do we do, Officer?"

He exhaled loudly. "Right now, with the risk of fallout, we can't really do anything productive." Yells of protest rose high above the sound of his voice.

"The guys in Port Angeles say that the government is saying to sit tight and await proper instructions. We're still okay for food and fuel and medical supplies for quite some time so we don't really have to worry. In the near future, anyway. They just say to look after our towns and keep our people on this side of the Olympic Mountains. One of the geography professors at the community college up there said that we should be safe from the fallout… something about the rain from the east falling on the mountains due to the altitude or something like that. We should be wary of travellers coming from other towns. Keep inside the town, folks, and be safe. We'll keep you updated as best we can."

Officer Ben jumped down the steps to stand beside his wife and a few other officers and they quickly began talking. The volume of chatter rose quickly as the crowd starting yelling and talking frantically amongst themselves.

I turned to Edward. His eyes were faraway someplace else. Rosalie seemed to snap out of her mumblings and turned to us all.

"So, what, are we not allowed to leave this town?"

"I don't think so." Jasper said. "It's probably the safest thing though, right?"

"Maybe so." She snapped. "But where the hell are we supposed to stay? The hospital for god knows how long?!"

"I'm sure that we'll be given somewhere to sleep, Rosie." Emmett sniffled.

I held back a wholly inappropriate snigger. Rosie? I guess they got familiar with each other fast.

"I am NOT sleeping in some hospital bed, Emmy."

At this I snorted a little. Edward looked down at me, amusement in his eyes.

"What's so funny?"

I chuckled and looked up at him and whispered, "Rosie and Emmy?"

He laughed. He actually laughed. It was such a relief to see him acting normally that my smile grew by about a mile. Rosalie snapped her head to us, the corners of her lips twitching trying to restrain a smile.

"It's not funny! Those bed's smell like… bleach and sterile crap and the pillows are so lumpy and…"

She continued to mumble to Emmett and he occasionally would nod his head and smile at her as she ranted. I took the opportunity, as Edward was preoccupied with a chattering Noah, to look around us. I tried to not let myself dwell on what Officer Ben had mentioned about states that they were almost positive were hit. He mentioned Arizona. I knew Arizona was a big state and the chances were slim, but the cities we knew of were the state capitals. It was likely that Phoenix could in someway be affected. I tried to not think of my parents, but it was a losing battle and I felt tears sting my eyes and well up.

I quietly tried to sniffle but of course, Edward had eyes and ears like a hawk.

He quickly passed off Noah to Jasper and tightened his arms around my shoulders and led me a few feet away. His hand came up to wipe the tears from my cheeks but that just caused me to start softly sobbing that little bit louder. He look slightly alarmed.

"Bella, what's wrong?"

"What, aside from the blatantly obvious?" He tried to hide the hurt in his eyes as I snapped at him, and I instantly felt guilty. I flung my arms around his torso and my voice came out muffled against his shirt.

"I… I'm sorry. It's just…"

He gently wrapped his arms around me and I sighed, warm and safe in his arms.

"What is it?" He inquired softly.

"It's just… it's all so much to take in. I… I keep thinking of Ph...Phoenix and my parents and I know Ben said nothing positive about Arizona. But I just can't help it. And then I feel guilty because I know there's a chance Renee and Charlie are okay but Alice is…" I couldn't continue and kept on crying into his chest. I felt him stiffen momentarily at the mention of his sister but he said nothing.

"Breathe, Bella. Shhh."

I calmed in his embrace, his voice was soothing and like a balm on the pain I felt. Definitely weird.

"Sorry I freaked out on you like that."

"Never apologize to me, Isabella." I shivered slightly when he called me by my full name. Usually I enforced the shortened version of my name but Isabella just sounded right coming from Edward. I stopped myself before my mind wandered too far into fantasy-land.

"Are you cold?" I almost snorted again. If only you knew, Edward.

"No, I'm fine." He chuckled.

Officer Ben came over with another man from the station, who looked around the same age as him.

"Folks, this is Officer Yorkie."

"Just Eric!" The man called. He was tall with a mop of thick, black hair that hung over his eyes and was dressed in faded jeans and a flannel shirt. Thick-framed black glasses were on his face, covering his dull green eyes. He reminded me of Harry Potter and I snickered internally. He had nothing on Edward.

I surmised that he was Radio Eric as Ben introduced the group. When Ben introduced me to him, his eyes did a double take and he smiled, glancing appreciatively up and down my body. I blushed under his intense gaze but I noticed Edward stiffen and felt his arms tighten around me. I couldn't suppress my grin at Edward's gesture but poor Eric mistook it as directed at him and returned it.

I don't know what made me do it, but before I could stop myself I leant up and kissed Edward's cheek softly when he was being introduced to Eric by Ben. I saw his eyes widen and a small knowing smirk quirk his lips whilst Eric looked a bit crestfallen. I restrained another snigger. What was wrong with me? I'd gone from crying to refraining constant laughter to kissing Edward in the matter of minutes. The day was taking it's toll on my mental well-fare.

I avoided Edward's eyes after the little kiss, suddenly feeling embarrassed for doing it.

Once Eric was finished, Ben clapped his hands together and spoke.

"Right. Sleeping arrangements, kids." He was barely older than even me!

"Luckily for you guys, Doctor Cullen has a big empty mansion just on the outskirts of town. He volunteered himself to house the lot of you for the foreseeable future. Great guy, he is. He's on his own, so there's plenty of spare bedrooms." He looks quickly at Rosalie and I. "My wife has offered to help you ladies with clothing and such. Given the uh… circumstances… Mrs Stanley, who owns the only women's clothing shop in town, has offered you two free-reign on whatever you need, free of charge."

My mouth dropped open, and was matched by Rosalie's.

"Are you serious?" I asked, incredulous.

He grinned brightly. "Yep. Ang said she'd take you tomorrow afternoon once you all get rested up. Men." Jasper, Edward and Emmett nodded at him. "You three can come with me and Yorkie and Crowley at the same time down to the men's store. Same rules apply, okay?" They nodded once more.

"Thanks, man." Jasper said warmly and clapped Ben on the back. He only smiled wider. He was such a nice guy.

"No problem. It's the least we can do considering what happened. Oh yeah, for the little man…" He turned and called out to an older looking man talking with his family not far from us. The man looked up, smiling faintly, and kissed his wife on the cheek and walked over.

"Yeah, Chief?"

"They're almost ready to head off, Pete. Folks, this is Peter Banner, the high school's biology teacher." He looked at Jasper and Noah.

"I have a son just a little bit older than your boy here, sir. My wife and I kept his old clothes if you want them."

"Thank you, Mr Banner. That's very kind of you and your wife." I said.

"Naomi. It's really no problem at all. We can drop them off at the Cullen place in the morning, we really gotta get the kids home."

"We'll be there, thank-you." I beamed at him.

"Right-oh. See you then." He returned to his family and they left quickly. I saw the little boy of his and an older girl, who looked around twelve.

"I think that's all for now. Doctor Cullen's shift ended at four but he's waiting for you to return so he can drive you to his place. Ang and I will drop by for you guys tomorrow afternoon at three. Okay?"

We agreed to the time and were quickly ushered to the cars with Seth and Emily. This time, Jasper joined Rosalie and Emmett and I placed a sleepy Noah on my lap, running my fingers soothingly through his beautiful blond hair. Edward and Seth chattered all the way back to the hospital, having instantly formed a bond over some sort of issue I was too tired to figure out.

I wearily made a mental checklist of all the things I would need that I lost in my luggage from the crash.

_Pants, shirts, socks, underwear, coats… _the list was endless. I felt a bit guilty for having to take so much, but I was less willing to wear the same clothes day after day.

When we arrived back at the hospital, Noah was asleep in my arms and Edward helped me out of the car. His arm was immediately back around my shoulders and I instantly realised the loss I had felt when he had removed it before. Huh.

We made our way inside to find Doctor Cullen, and we found him sitting in an armchair at Esme's bedside. She appeared wide awake, but she looked as if she had been crying. Her eyes were rimmed with red, but the hugest smile was on her face and I quickly noticed her hand clasped tight in the Doctor's. I would have to ask about that later. Doctor Cullen looked up as we entered and stood.

"I'm just about ready to go." He turned back to Esme. "You should be able to come home with me in a few days, sweetheart."

Sweetheart? What had we missed?

She nodded, sniffling and smiling, and turned to Rosalie and Jasper.

"You two will come visit me, right?" She laughed shakily.

Rosalie rushed forward and kissed Esme on the cheek and clasped her hand briefly. Jasper pecked her on the forehead and said, "Of course Esme. We'll see you tomorrow."

"Get better soon, Esme, okay?" Rosalie smiled.

She nodded and we turned to leave. I noticed Carlisle join us at the reception a few minutes later and my brow creased in confusion. I quickly remembered Edward mentioning they knew each other after I woke up.

Doctor Cullen had a Mercedes in the parking lot and managed to fit Edward, Noah and I in the back seat with Jasper up front. Seth offered to run Rosalie and Emmett over behind us.

We were all tired once more, so conversation was minimal throughout the drive. I had my head on Edward's shoulder and Noah's on my lap as he sprawled out in the rest of the back seat. Jasper and Carlisle discussed random topics about the town, getting to know it. I tuned them out and concentrated on the warmth of Edward's hand around mine.

We passed the high school on our way to the Cullen residence, and the majority of the town seemed to have gone home. The cops were still standing around a few cruisers, talking and looking sullen.

* * *

I must have dozed off quickly because the next thing I knew, I woke up in a bed. Bewildered and disorientated, I looked around the room. I first noticed that I was alone, and that depressed me a bit. I didn't want to be alone right now.

The room was spacious. The bed was white oak wood and was four poster. The duvet was a light creamy white colour and the walls a pale cheerful blue. Sitting up, I saw that the wall opposite me was all glass, looking out over a spectacular forest, sloping hills and a wide, deep river. The door to the room was on the same wall as the bed, to my right. A walk in closet was on the wall to my left, along with a fireplace by the window. A cream couch sat in the corner with a chest of drawers and lamp beside it.

Still a bit confused at where I was, though I assumed it was Doctor Cullen's place, I scooted to the edge of the bed and put my feet on the cold wooden floor. It was still dark out, and with it being a Washington winter, I guessed it to be any time before 7am.

I noticed that my shoes were sitting on the floor alone. A quick check assured me that all of my clothing was still in place, even Edward's hooded sweatshirt. I stood up out bed and shivered in the glow of the lamp. I stumbled to the window and sucked in a breath as I took in the amazing landscape before me. It all looked so peaceful. A calm haven in the midst of this disaster.

I made my way to the door and turned the handle, opening the door slowly, begging it not to creak. The hallway was in complete darkness and I noticed stairs descending in a curve at the far end of the hall. Tip-toeing across the wooden floor, I peeked into any open doors of the numerous ones that lined the hall. I quickly found my first goal, a bathroom.

I eased the door shut, and went about my bathroom business. After, I splashed cool water onto my face, and looked unwillingly at my reflection. My hair was in dire need of a wash. Stripping of my clothes, I stood in my bra and boy shorts and inspected my injuries. I winced as I saw the numerous cuts and scrapes down my arms and the little patch of skin that had been above the neckline of my t-shirt during the crash. They had been cleaned up well.

I didn't dare touch or remove the bandaging still wrapped tight around the wound in my stomach, so I carefully redressed. Flicking off the bathroom light, I stepped once more into the darkness of the hallway.

My next target, finding Edward.

I admired my stealth as I checked in on all of the rooms on this floor. I peeked in on Emmett, who was snoring loudly as he lay on his back in the centre of a large double bed, arms stretched to either side of him. I didn't even notice her at first, given Emmett's size, but a tuft of blonde peeked out above his chest. They were both still fully dressed, sans shoes and coats. They weren't exactly cuddling or spooning, but Rosalie's head was on his arm as she, too, snored.

I continued on down the hall, and quickly grew anxious when I realized that neither Edward or Noah were to be seen. Upon reaching the curving staircase, I noticed it ascended to another floor above me. I walked up onto the final storey.

There was only four doors on this floor, and the hallway was shorter. The first two I opened turned out to be a large bathroom and a study, complete with bookcases and a computer. The third was a tiny bedroom, and I noticed a small lump under the covers that I discovered to be Noah. I kissed his forehead and continued on my hunt.

Opening the final door, I sighed gratefully. Jackpot.

Unlike Emmett and Rosalie, he was fully under the covers and cuddled up into himself on his side. The light of the moon shone onto his face and he never looked more beautiful. Smiling lightly, I walked quietly over to the large bed and pulled back the covers. He grasped for them but found my wrist instead.

His eyes opened weakly and he looked so cute when he was confused that I giggled softly.

"Bella?" He mumbled, his forehead all scrunched up and adorable.

"I got lonely downstairs. Do you mind…" I was starting to feel a bit stupid for coming all the way here and I glanced sheepishly at him. "Can I stay here?"

He smiled sleepily and pulled me gently down beside him. "Of course." He yawned widely and groaned, his eyes watering. So cute.

When I was on my back, fully laid down, I pulled the blankets up over us and turned onto my side, facing him. His eyes were half-shut but he was smiling at me. I felt a little flutter deep inside me.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Bella."

Our faces were inches apart and I basked in the warmth and sweetness of his breathe as he began to breath deeply beside me, telling me he was asleep already. I moved my hand under the duvet and found the warmth and comfort of his hand, and squeezed it. I was falling asleep fast, and I was pretty sure he was already under, but I felt a comforting squeeze back before I was gone.

* * *

When I awoke, bright light shone through my eye-lids. I was comfortable, relaxed and so very warm. I quickly realised why, Edward was on top of me.

I was lying completely on my front with my arms curled under the pillow, and my heard turned towards the all-glass wall to my right. Edward was draped over my back, his arm wrapped tight around my waist, his hand resting beneath me and above my bandages, just below my breasts. One of his legs was between both of mine and the result was half of his body covering me. His head lay just above my right shoulder, buried into my hair.

For a second I worried he might suffocate.

I had no desire to move so I focused instead on rise and fall of his weight as he breathed deeply. I struggled to look around for a clock without moving too much, and spotted one on the bedside table.

**13:28**

Holy crap, did we really sleep in that late? Ben and Angela were coming for us in an hour and 30 minutes.

I wiggled beneath Edward and strained my neck around to face him.

"Edward?"

I was greeted by a low, "Mmmmm."

"Edward! Wake-up."

"Nope."

"Yep."

"Why, Belllaaa.."

I giggled. "I take it you're not a morning person, huh."

His voice was mumbled into my hair. "You guessed right."

"Seriously, we gotta get up."

"What ti…" He yawned widely. "What time is it?"

"Half past one in the afternoon."

He groaned unhappily. "Fine." He grumbled. He extracted his hand carefully from under me and rolled over onto his back, stretching. I couldn't help but ogle him. He smirked as he caught me staring and I blushed, turning away and easing myself off the bed.

I stretch where I stood and my stomach decided to let out a particularly angry and loud rumble. I heard Edward chuckled from where he still lay, stretched out on the bed.

"Don't laugh at me! I haven't eaten since… since… Wow. I haven't eaten since Saturday night." It was now Monday afternoon.

Edward's lazy expression quickly turned concerned. "Are you serious? Why not?"

"Well, I slept late yesterday and skipped breakfast in my rush to the airport. And I hate plane food… and we all know what happened afterward." My stomach rumbled impatiently again. "I guess in all the excitement last night I just forgot."

He jumped from the bed and grabbed my hand, heading for the door.

"We're gonna have to feed you, Bella. You can't just not eat, especially after being injured."

I agreed a little enthusiastically and we headed for the stairs. On the way past, we check in on Noah's room , but he wasn't there. A loud clang sounding from below us alerted us that the other's were awake and downstairs.

Edward led me down the curving stairs, running his hand through his sleep-messed hair. I wished it was me doing it.

We continued descending until we arrived on the only floor of the house I had yet to see. The floor was nearly entirely open and the entire back wall was glass, as above us. To our right was a door leading to the kitchen, where most of the commotion was. On the far side of the glass wall was an archway into a dining room and two other doors. Across the room was a raised platform and a gorgeous black piano, and I saw Edward's eyes light up at the sight. I turned to him.

"Will you play for me?" He smiled beautifully and nodded.

"Later. First, food."

We entered the kitchen to a funny sight. Doctor Cullen stood at the oven and was flipping bacon in a frying pan on the hob, chuckling. Emmett and Jasper sat at the island in the centre on stools. Rosalie was leaning against the fridge, looking on warmly. Noah sat crossed-legged in the centre of the island with a bowl of Cheerios, and was giggling furiously as he attempted throwing them into the open mouths of Emmett and Jasper who were laughing loudly.

Emmett turned as we entered the kitchen hand in hand, and winked suggestively. His voice boomed out loudly.

"I see you two kids finally got out of that bed of yours! Have fun?"

"Emmett!" Rosalie yelped.

"Shut up, _Emmy_." I grumbled and stalked forward to pour myself a big bowl of cereal. I heard Edward laughing behind me and Emmett's head hit his forearm as he shook with mirth.

"I'm just kidding, Bells. Chillax, okay?"

I grumbled some more and starting wolfing down the food unashamedly.

"Jeez, hungry much?"

"Leave her alone, Emmett." Jasper said, laughing as a Cheerio hit him in the eye. "Just because some people see the need the eat every 10 minutes doesn't mean we all do."

"It wasn't 10 minutes! It was like… an hour!"

"Emmett McCarty!" Rosalie called playfully across the room. "We got here last night at 4:30 and you threw half of the poor man's fridge down you. Then at 5 you snuck down here for a pop-tart!"

"Have you seen my body, Rosie?"

I stared, amused, as Rosalie blushed and looked out the window.

"HA. You so have. I need my food to keep me going. It's only biology. Come on." He sniggered into his new plateful of bacon and eggs, which disappeared quickly.

Edward sat down to his own breakfast and chucked it down fast. Jasper and Emmett had already polished theirs off and returned to their game of catching Cheerios. It was then I noticed that Noah was still in his torn and dirty clothes from the previous day and I frowned. Had Peter Banner not shown?

"Rosalie, has that Banner guy dropped off stuff for Noah yet?"

"Call me Rose, please. And yes, he did. The poor kid needs a bath first and I was gonna get to it once you woke up. No way was I gonna attempt that by myself."

"Whas wong wiff us?" Emmett spoke over a mouthful of bread. He swallowed quickly. "We're competent guys. We can clean him up."

"If you boys tried I would expect to find more water on you than him."

I heard a faint, "True." as he shoved more food into his mouth. He was insatiable.

"C'mon then. I'm finished." I wiped my mouth and stood, walking over and tickling Noah as he giggled. I lifted from the counter and set him on my hip.

"Ready to get clean, Noah's Ark?" Jasper called. I laughed and Noah smiled brightly.

"Yep, Casper!"

* * *

**I decided to end the chapter on a happier note than the previous ones! Reviews are better than a sleepy & cute Edward!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I own nothing, except our little Noah. **

**Writer's block and insomnia make for a very grumpy cherryy. **

**Random fact: At this very moment, as I write the last words to this chapter, it is 6:11 am. Work starts at 11am. I get home at 2pm, then I have to baby-sit two very hyper and giggly kids at 7 for five hours. I'll be running on pure will power. God help me. **

**And I present you with a new POV!**

------

Chapter 6

_**November 30**__**th**__** - 10:40am**_

"What time do I have to come pick you up?"

"_We get in at about 2:30. Any time after that is good."_

"Do I have permission to drive your precious car?"

I grinned as I heard him grumble. _"Y-yes. But I swear to god, twin, if there is anything so much as a handprint on her new paintjob, I'll kidnap your AMEX for a week."_

"Trust me, big brother. And you wouldn't dare."

I heard a snort and faint mumblings of _"…a mark at ALL on Trisha…" _I laughed loudly.

"_How is the project coming along?" _I groaned and slapped my forehead onto my desk.

"…_That bad, huh?"_

"I feel like I'm on a treadmill. Running as fast as I can but I'm just… getting no where. Laurent hasn't stopped pestering me since you left. He's called me five times today. And it's not even lunch yet!"

"_Twin, I know you love what you do."_

I sighed deeply. "I do."

"_But you can't keep up like this. You'll run yourself into the ground."_

"But I have no time to take everything at my own pace. The show is in three weeks! I have no where near enough done."

"_Have you eaten today?"_

"I may have had a coffee at some point." I could practically hear his frustration over the line. There was a faint dinging sound and a muffled voice.

"_That's my flight." _He huffed. _"I gotta go. Promise me you'll at least have lunch today. Go to the mall. Do something for yourself, okay?"_

"Fine. I promise. Now get your ass on that flight and come home, big brother. I miss you."

"_I miss you too, twin."_

"See ya later, Edward."

"_Bye, Alice."_

Then he was gone.

I love my brother, I really do. But what he just cannot get into his stubborn little skull is that sometimes there are things that require a bit of yourself to work. This project, this fashion show, was a monumental milestone of my life. This could really kick-start my career. Laurent may have been a major pain in the ass when it came to getting the job done, but underneath it all I knew he meant well. He was just as excited about introducing me to the industry as I was.

So what if the price of this was only a few nights of sleep here and some meals there. In the end, it would be worth it.

I stood from my desk and hooked the cordless phone into it's base. With a dreamy sigh, I shuffled over to the cushioned bench tucked into the corner of the room beside the wide window. I wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and got comfortable, leaning my forehead against the cool glass.

It was raining lightly outside and it was most likely freezing cold too. From my bedroom, I could see up and down the long street. As it was Sunday, and raining, there wasn't many people on the sidewalk.

Eventually, I felt myself drift…

_I was surrounded in blackness. A vast and silent void. Looking down, I saw that my own body was invisible to me. Strange, irrational and unexplainable emotions filled my heart. Fear, terror, pain, hope, grief, loss. A jumbled mess. A low voice called out in the darkness. _

"_A-Alice.!"_

_I jerked around and gasped at what I saw. My big strong brother, my shield, hunched over on his knees and crying. I ached to reach him, to comfort him, but I couldn't move an inch. His pain was my pain, simple as that. I tried to call to him, but no sound emitted, and he faded into the darkness before I could try again. _

_Confused, I looked around me as the blackness began to flicker, like the jerking image of a faulty television. I saw Edward faintly, laughing with a strange brunette. More images began to emerge and overlap and I tried to catch each one before they went. _

_A furious red-headed woman yelling at a blond man on the side of a busy highway._

_An airplane, turning in the sky. _

_A gathering of people in a stone room, a large digital screen on the wall counting down to zero. _

_The images started to become faster and more terrible._

_I heard screaming, crying, yells, explosions and then utter silence. Utter chaos. Destruction. _

_I had found my phantom hands and had them clasped over my ears, sobbing. Another small voice brought me out of my misery. It was my own. Startled, I looked upwards and gaped. _

_I could see myself and my brother locked in an hug. My arms were thrown around his neck, my crying face buried into his shoulder and my tiny legs dangling a foot off the ground. His arms were wrapped tight around my back and he too was sobbing into my hair. _

_Where we were was blurry and unknown. _

I awoke abruptly, panting and crying. Looking around me, I was momentarily disorientated until I recognized my own bedroom. I stood quickly and spun in a circle, dazed. Something wasn't right.

The air felt too thick. The walls too close together. Irrational terror surged within me and my insides went ice-cold. My hands were shaking uncontrollably and I was at an utter loss at what was happening.

For the first time in my life, I felt my fight or flight instinct. And it was telling me to run. As far away as I could. But I couldn't understand where it was coming from.

I tried to take a deep breathe and made to sit down on my bed, but as soon as I touched the comforter, my heart went into to overdrive. My breath came in shallow gasps. Was I having a panic attack?

As I tried to lie down, it felt as if my body was at war with something unexplainable. It was like something was screaming at me that lying down was wrong. That I shouldn't be doing it.

I wanted to yell, _Well what the fuck should I be doing?!_

A sudden panic hit me so strongly that fresh tears sprung to my eyes. I couldn't ignore this.

I jumped up off the bed and let my instincts guide my actions. They were telling me to get the hell away from here, so I would. Some terrible entity loomed on the horizon and settled like a warm and deadly weight on my heart.

I was in a short denim skirt and pointy heels. Without thinking twice, I tossed the shoes at the wall and yanked on my fuzzy and black Uggs. I swapped my fiddly and strappy shirt for a simple t-shirt and put on my long black coat. I ran to the kitchen and snatched the Volvo's keys from their hook and added them to my purse with my wallet and cell-phone.

Dashing to the front door, my gaze zeroed in on a frame on the wall. It was a frame that held four photographs in one. They were all of Edward and I. The first was us as tiny, wrinkly newborns. We joked it was the only time we were ever the same size. The second was of our first day of Pre-K, the two of us beaming, swinging our legs from atop the kitchen table. The third was of the fashion project in our freshman year of high school. I had designed and produced an outfit to be shown on a tiny catwalk in the gym. Edward was my model. He stood proudly, one arm slung around my shoulders as we stood at the end of the run, receiving our 1st place prize. The last was of our last day in Chicago before moving to Seattle. That day, for our last time, we had done all the touristy things and soaked up our last hours in our home city. The photo was of the two of us at Lincoln Park Zoo.

I carefully lifted the frame off of it's hook and tucked it under my arm.

I locked up our apartment behind me and ran to the elevators. I made it out of the building doors and into the rain. I quickly spotted the Volvo parked just down the street. Without looking where I was going, I bounded straight for it, knocking into the few pedestrians that were there.

I was brought to a sudden halt when two strong hands planted themselves on my shoulders.

"Wo-ow, Aly. Where's the fire?" Looking up, I saw the smiling face of our neighbour, Mike. His eyes, that were sparkling in amusement, quickly grew concerned as he saw my face clearly.

"What's the matter? Is it Edward? Is he okay?"

I looked longingly towards the car and then back to Mike's worried face. I really loved Mike, he was such a great friend. Edward, Mike and I were all very close. The three of us would often have movie nights and hang out together.

The irrational feelings swirling around in my brain demanded I leave Seattle, but could I just leave Mike to face the terrible unknown? Even if I had no idea what it was?

A quick look at my watch told me it was nearing just after 12:25pm. The panic was mounting. How could I get Mike to agree to join me without sounding like a lunatic? Thinking fast, I plastered on a sheepish grin.

"I fell asleep and I had to pick Edward up a half hour ago. He's probably going to be mad at me."

Mike's brow puckered in confusion. "He told me his flight got in after two."

I internally sighed. At least he accepted my reasoning for my panic.

"He called me this morning and told me he managed to get an earlier flight. I completely forgot and dozed off."

He nodded, believing the lie. I seized my chance.

"You want to come with? He might not yell at me if you're there."

He chuckled. "Sure. Got nothing else to do."

I fake-grinned back at him and bolted for the Volvo, his laughter following me to the car. I buckled myself into the driver's seat and impatiently tapped my foot.

"Geez, Aly."

I laughed lightly at him, it sounding hollow to my hears. Slamming my foot on the gas, I took off down the road, as far from Seattle as possible. The irrational fear never ceased as we headed out of the city, but my visible panic started to slow. It was as if that same unknown force was telling me,_ this is the right thing to do._

Thankfully, traffic was light, and we were travelling down Route 5 at a high speed. We zoomed by the airport and I thanked some greater forces that Mike was too preoccupied with his iPhone to notice right away.

I had no clue where I was going. I was just following the road. Letting my instincts guide me. We were just outside of Tacoma when Mike yelled out a startled, "What the hell?"

He was looking all around us, thoroughly confused. A quick look at the digital display of the radio told me it was 1:12 pm.

"Why the hell are we in TACOMA, Alice? I thought we were picking Edward up from SeaTac?"

I briefly screwed my face up in resignation. How do I explain to my friend that I was whisking him far away because I was convinced that staying where we were would result in tragedy? Based on instincts and feelings? I'm pretty sure he would think I was a crazy lunatic.

But then again, maybe I was.

"Trust me, Mike."

"What? Trust you with what? What's going on?"

It was 1:13pm. The panic was mounting again, faster than ever before, rising like a tide in a storm. Ready to sweep me under. My breath returned to quick gasps as my blood ran cold. I looked wildly around me, outside the Volvo, up to the sky. Whatever I was running from… it was here.

Poor Mike started to look scared. "Alice, are you okay?"

I shook my head violently and pulled over on the hard shoulder. Jumping out of the car, I took in deep lungful of the cold, winter air. It had stopped raining and the roads were starting to become slick with ice. Mike quickly joined me, rubbing my back and trying to soothe me.

"What's going on, Aly?" He said quietly.

My voice came out choked. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

He chuckled softly. "I've been know to have a pretty open mind."

A sob escaped me, and Mike engulfed me in his warm arms. "Hey, it's alri-..."

His voice was smothered by a sudden loud booming sound coming from behind us. It was distant, but loud. The sound coincided with a sharp cry from my lips as the terror reached it's crescendo.

Whipping his head around in the direction of Seattle, Mike gasped loudly.

"Holy FUCK."

It started as a low grumbling and very faintly, the ground began to quiver. I turned my head and was immediately in shock. Was that… no it couldn't be… NO!

Before I could think straight, Mike had flung me into the passenger seat and took my place as driver. He slammed his foot on the accelerator and took of west as fast as possible, into the heart of Tacoma.

His focus alternated rapidly from in front of the car and to the rear-view mirror, his eyes wide in horror. The recognizable cloud was growing in height and width with every passing second. The ground continued to rumble beneath our wheels.

Surrounding traffic became chaotic as other drivers and passengers noticed what we had seen. Horns blared and tires screeched and Mike simply yelled, "We're getting the fuck out of here!"

He sped and swerved and cursed and heaved. I was frozen in utter shock. Was this what I had… 'fore-seen'?

By the time we were immersed in the city, everyone had reacted. Word had spread fast to those who had not witnessed it. Abandoned shopping bags, papers and food littered the streets as people scrambled to their cars and homes.

Mike and I weaved throw the traffic. I was silent. Mike was continually mumbling under his breath.

By the time we reached Olympia, the radio stations were down. Both of us were too afraid to ask what this meant. By 3pm, we were heading south on route 5. We steered sharply west on 12, travelling through the same scenes over and over in each passing town and city. Chaos. Panic. Terror.

We reached the port town of Hoquiam before we stopped. We had run low on gas and ideas.

Hoquiam was picturesque and quiet. As we had seen before, newspapers and bags covered the sidewalks, but the people were no where to be seen. We pulled up at an empty gas station.

Mike turned to me and spoke for the first time. "How are you doing, Alice?"

I sniffled at him, at a loss for words. He sighed sadly and leaned forward to quickly peck my forehead. "I'll be back in a minute. Then we can figure out what to do."

He put gas in the car and walked into the store, slightly lost. From what I could see, there place was empty. No cashiers.

He disappeared into the store and came out within 5 minutes. His arms held two large bottles of water, some sandwiches and chips.

He handed me my half with a sad smile. "I left enough cash on the counter with a note. They won't get mad, will they?"

I shook my head. "The world has bigger problems to deal with."

------

**A shorter chapter. You didn't think I could kill off Alice, did you!? Alice is too awesome. It took me a while to come up with how she and Mike survived. Mike's a good guy in my story. He deserves it after the amount of stories I've read where he was the villain! Not an exciting ending. No cliffie today. I have part of the next chapter done.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Don't own anything, except sweet little Noah. **

**Ahhh, I'm so excited. Tomorrow I'm going to see a preview of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Me and three of my friends are going all out and booked the VIP seats. They recline! And the New Moon trailer on the big screen! And oh my, Rupert Grint. I have the hugest crush on him.**

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Chapter 7

(BPOV)

At exactly 3pm, Ben and Angela pulled up in the cruiser and honked the horn.

Ben was taking Edward, Emmet and Jasper into town with Noah in the cruiser. Carlisle had offered to give Rosalie, Angela and I a ride to the hospital where we could check in on Esme before we could take his car into town to the women's clothing store.

The sound of thumping and running tiny feet made me turn my head to see Noah fling himself down the last step of the curving staircase. His curls were clean and shiny, his face scrubbed and his cuts bandaged. The clothes that Peter Banner sent over earlier in the morning fit him well. He looked cute in his Patrick Star t-shirt and fresh jeans.

He was still oblivious to what exactly happened yesterday and he had asked about his mom more than once, but I couldn't bare to make him unhappy. At least for now.

Rose was smiling faintly at Noah's chipper antics as she descended the staircase behind him. But her eyes betrayed the façade. They were distant and sad. She tickled his sides and hoisted him onto her hip, causing him to collapse into furious giggles.

"Are the boys nearly ready?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Emmet's throwing a fit over having to wear his t-shirt again, he says it's covered in dirt and crap. Whatever. And he gave this poor kid something entirely sugar when we weren't looking."

She nudged her head toward Noah and he simply giggled in response.

"They'll be down in a sec."

A knock sounded on the front door and I peeked through the window to see Angela standing on the porch with a petite brunette woman, both of them solemn. The stranger's eyes were faintly rimmed red and I watched as Angela placed an arm around her shoulder.

Opening the door, I smiled gratefully. "Hi, Angela. Thank you so much for coming."

"It's no problem, Bella. Ben's ready to go whenever the guys are."

The other woman raised her eyes to mine and attempted the smile. She looked miserable.

"Hello, Bella."

Angela made quick work of introducing us.

"Bella, this is Jessica Stanley. She works with me at the library. We went to school together."

I stuck my hand out hastily and she shook it. I noticed her hand wobbling.

Edward, Jasper and Emmet chose that moment to come barrelling down the stairs. Carlisle exited the kitchen with his briefcase and a grim smile.

"Ladies, I'll be outside whenever you are ready."

I glanced over to Edward to say good-bye and found him staring quizzically at Jessica. He had the look in his eyes that said he knew her face from somewhere, but couldn't quite place it. He shook his head briefly and walked straight toward me, yanking Noah from Rose in one swift movement, causing her to smack his shoulder playfully.

I smiled timidly at him. "How long are you guys going to take? Rose and I are coming back to the hospital afterwards. We could meet for dinner or something."

"Hopefully not too long. Jasper wants to drop in at the police station to see if he can help out with anything."

"So I'll see you later?" I felt awkward and clumsy and young as I talked to Edward. What was the etiquette when it came to talking to boys in the midst of a disaster?

I felt intensely attracted to him and on the plane I kind of thought he felt it too. We just clicked. But so much had changed since then. Did the same rules apply as before? Or was it just inappropriate?

He smiles warmly and nodded. "Yeah."

Noah chose then to reach over eagerly. "Bye Bella!" He hugged me tight around the neck.

I chuckled. "See ya later, Noah." I gave him a quick peck on the forehead and waved to the boys as Rosalie and I followed Angela and Jessica out the front door to Carlisle's car.

--

The drive into town was quiet. Jessica was sniffling lightly in the back seat, gazing out of the window. Angela and Rose were silent, contemplative. I sat in the front beside Carlisle.

When we got to the hospital, I expected Carlisle to change into doctor mode and go about his business, but he was front of the line to reach Esme's bedside. She was awake and her face lit up in joy when he entered.

"Good afternoon, sweetheart. Did you sleep okay?" He squeezed her hand and kissed her cheek. I was astounded to see her blush.

"Yes, I did. When can I get out of here?" Carlisle chuckled at her.

"Very soon, love. How's your head?"

"It feels a lot better now." She turned to Rose, who had seated herself beside Esme's feet. "How's our Jasper doing?"

Rose sighed. "He's doing fine. Edward, Emmet and Noah are too. Is your leg hurting?"

"Not really. Not anymore anyhow. Dr Cullen said I should be out of the cast in 6 weeks." She smiled playfully at him.

"It wouldn't be the first time I helped you with a broken leg, love"

And then suddenly it hit me. Dr Carlisle Cullen. A teenager called Carlisle who illegally drove Esme to a hospital when she was 16 after falling from a tree. Could they be the same person? I'd have to ask later.

Carlisle tossed his keys to Rosalie and the four of us said good-bye to Esme and headed out to the car.

The store wasn't far into town and we arrived there quickly. They front door was locked and the 'Closed' sign was showing, but Jessica surprised me by pulling out a full key-chain and let herself into the building.

The lights were already on and I heard faint rummaging coming from an open door behind the counter.

"Mom?" Jessica sniffled.

A woman's voice called out from behind the door. "I'll be out in a sec, sweetie!"

Less than a minute later, a middle-aged version of Jessica appeared with a young girl gripping her hand.

The girl peered shyly from under her dark lashes. Jessica turned to Rosalie and I and mussed the girl's dark curls playfully.

"This is my mom and my baby sister, Brianna."

Brianna immediately scowled at her big sister. "I'm not a baby, Jess! I'm nearly 13!"

She turned to us, a quickly turned Little-Miss-Attitude.

"And my name is NOT Brianna. I told Jess that it's Bree now. With two 'e's!"

Jessica giggled through her tear-full eyes. "Okay, okay. You're not a baby. Got a boyfriend then?"

"Jessica-aa!" She whined.

"Been kissed yet?"

"Even if I DID have a boyfriend, he wouldn't run away, like yours did."

Immediately Bree's hand slapped over he mouth, like she said something she knew she shouldn't have. Mrs Stanley shut her eyes and shook her head.

Jessica was openly crying again. Bree ran to her and threw her arms around her sister.

"Jess, I'm so sorry I said that. I didn't mean to."

"I-it's okay, Bree."

"No, it's not! I'm a terrible sister!"

Jessica chuckled sadly. She turned to her mom. "Is Lauren with you?"

Mrs Stanley nodded and jerked her head to the door behind her. "She's in the store room."

Jessica untangled herself from Bree's limbs and walked quickly around the door.

Mrs Stanley looked to Rosalie and me and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry you girls had to witness the sibling spat. Angela tells me you are in need of well… everything. I made a quick list of what you would need. Can you get it from where we left it, Brianna?"

The pre-teen nodded and left. She returned quickly and handed her mother a sheet of note-paper.

Mrs Stanley walked around her tiny boutique, nodding in the directions of the items as she spoke.

"We have all you should need. It's nothing fancy, of course. But it's Forks. Who needs ball gowns, ya know? There's jeans, shirts, tees, coats, jackets, underwear, braziers," She giggled. "Some nice dressy pants and skirts. Pyjamas are over by the far wall and I'm afraid there's a limited selection. Our next arrivals were due next week but considering… well. You should find everything you need."

We both thanked her profusely. She waved her hand. "It's not a problem. We all have to help each other out right now."

As Rose and I started looking around the racks, Angela disappeared into the store-room after Jessica.

We quickly piled what we needed over our arms, talking quietly to each other. I hated taking so much. This town had been so kind to us and we had nothing to give in return.

There had to be some way we could be of use.

I heard Angela and Jessica return from the storeroom and the two of them joined Mrs Stanley at the counter. Well, I guessed as much. I was too busy trying to search for a pair of jeans in my size. I looked up in surprise when I heard a baby's yawn.

In Jessica's arms was a sleepy baby. She was tiny and delicate with fine hair on her peachy head. Her pacifier fell onto Jessica's shoulder when she yawned and I watched as Bree put it back into the baby's little mouth.

Rose had that look on her face that warned everyone that an "Aww" was coming. She didn't disappoint.

"Who's this?" She asked gently.

Jessica smiled sadly and fresh tears welled up behind her eyes. "This is my daughter, Lauren."

"How old is she?"

"Five months."

"But she's so tiny!" And she was. I wouldn't have guessed that Lauren was any more than three months.

"She was a preemie. Bunch of medical complications. She's healthy now though." Her twisted her head to face her tiny daughter and told her, "And that's all that matters, right?"

Bree was making the little baby giggle over her sister's shoulder. Mrs Stanley and I were putting all of our 'purchases' into a few large bags, Angela and Jessica were murmuring quietly between themselves and Rose was gazing at Lauren with a longing smile on her face.

We said good-bye to the three Stanley women and Angela and Rose and I drove back to the hospital to meet up with Edward, Emmett and Jasper for some food.

We hauled one of the larger bags between us and made our way to Esme's room.

"We come bearing gifts!" Rose called out as we opened the door.

We were entirely unprepared for what we saw. Esme and Carlisle kissing on her bed. Well, Esme was sitting up under the covers and leaning back against the pillows and Carlisle was sitting beside her (OVER the covers) with his arm around her shoulder. But still, it was weird.

The moment we had effectively ruined also merited the typical Bella clumsiness and I dropped the heavy bag on my toe, muttering a loud "Crap!", grabbing Rose's arm and high-tailing it down the hallway where we both promptly burst into giggles.

I hadn't seen Rose laugh before. She had been the most emotionally affected by the crash and mostly hid her true emotions. I was happy to see her returning to her normal self.

We pushed open the double-doors into the ER, which was the front entrance to the hospital, and halted at the sight we saw.

The front doors were held open by two of the nurses. One by one, stretchers were carried into the building. Bodies lay all over the room, around the chairs and pushed against the walls. There was a flurry of activity and the door we had just come through swung open and Carlisle joined into the fray with a grim look on his face.

For a brief moment I was panicked and thought there had been a bus accident or something, but when I saw Edward, Emmett and Jasper helping to unload the ambulances outside, I quickly understood what was going on.

I avoided looking at the faces of the people brought in.

I left Rose standing and walked over to the boys, who were turning to walk out the door again. I put my hand on Edward's arm and they all turned to face me.

I knew my eyes were wide and staring around me and I could feel the blood draining from my face. "Th-these are all the bod… people from the crash site, aren't they?" I whispered.

Edward nodded and slumped his shoulders sadly.

"Ben managed to get a hold of a helicopter from Port Angeles and it was flew in earlier. We did the best we could." Jasper said.

I sniffled back a tear and stared in shock at the three of them. "You guys went back there?"

"We had to go to show them where it was."

"Are you okay?" I asked to Edward, as Rose asked the same to Emmett as soon as she appeared at my side.

He nodded again. He wasn't saying anything. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was avoiding think of the crash since yesterday, and going to the site must have been a horrible reminder. He was withdrawing.

"Have you eaten?" He shook his head, not really caring as his eyes roamed around us.

Try to get him out of his depression, I tried to distract him. "Where's Noah?"

"We left him with Esme." Emmet answered. Confused, I turned to Rose.

"Was he in the room when we went there?"

"No." She looked worried.

I turned around until I found Carlisle, who was talking to Ben at the desk as they awaited the final ambulance.

"Dr Cullen?" I called.

His head snapped around. "Yes, Bella?"

"Where's Noah?"

"One of the paediatric nurses offered to take him to the cafeteria to eat."

"Oh, okay. Thanks." Turning to Edward I said, "Do you want to get some food?" He seemed so far away that I could have taken him anywhere and he wouldn't have protested.

Jasper, Emmett and Rose said they would stay to help out and I led Edward through the corridors until we reached the cafeteria. I peeked my head around the door and spotted Noah's blond head immediately at the nearest table. The nurse he was with was dark-skinned, large and smiling affectionately at him as he munched on a muffin. As the door shut behind us, Noah looked up quickly and a bright grin appeared on his little face.

"Bella! Eddie!" A sad chuckle escaped from Edward's lips. He spoke for the first time since I'd seen him in the ER.

"Emmett taught him that one." He said quietly with a tiny smile. He ruffled Noah's hair, receiving an indignant "Hey!" from the little boy, and sat down beside him. I walked up to the small refrigerator and pulled out two sandwiches and two sodas, and walked up to the cashier to pay.

I sat down beside the nurse at the table and handed Edward his food and soda which he accepted with a thank-you.

The nurse introduced herself as Nurse Jackie. She was African-American and hysterical and had both Edward and I sufficiently distracted for the best part of twenty minutes. I was grateful for her to be helping cheer Edward up.

A figure ran quickly past the cafeteria doors and Edward perked up in curiosity. He sat up straight when a further two people ran.

"I think something's happening." His brows were pulled together and he sounded anxious. I was too. Our concern was confirmed when Jasper burst through the doors and yelled:

"They're bringing another survivor in!"

-----

Within minutes we were skidding to a halt inside the emergency room. The place was chaotic.

We stood bewildered, not knowing what to do, until Jasper ran up to us panting.

"A woman was found in the plane. They guys who lifted her into the helicopter thought she was dead because her pulse was barely there but then she started gasping. She coded twice in the ambulance. Her injuries are terrible."

Edward and I both looked at him in horror.

"She's survived that long out there?" I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper.

Before Jasper could reply Edward choked out a strained, "What injuries?"

"Severe internal bleeding. Broken limbs. She apparently can't feel her legs."

"She's talking?"

"No, but one of the guys knocked her leg by accident and she didn't flinch. Probably a fractured spine."

"When will they get here?"

A loud wailing sound announced the arrival of the ambulance and at once everyone was rushing to the door.

A loud voice yelled: "Move out of the way! Dr Cullen, we need you!"

I faintly recognized the man who was yelling. It was Tyler Crowley. He had shown up in his cruiser when we had first emerged onto the road after the forest trek.

A woman was being carried on a wheeled bed from the ambulance into the ER. The sight of her was excruciating. She was covered in blood and her clothes were torn. Her neck was in a large brace and her hair was lying over it, so I couldn't see her face.

Tyler had a battered and torn rucksack in his hands and was brandishing a passport. He stood by her head and kept her attention on him as he asked her questions. He seemed to be testing her for concussion and head trauma.

"Ma'am, is your name Tanya Christina Denali-Franklin?"

Her eyes unfocused and shut, but she nodded.

"Tanya, is your birthday November 25th, 1971?"

Another nod.

"Were you born in San Francisco, California?"

Nod.

Tyler turned to Ben and waved the passport. "This is her. There's another passport in this bag. Whoever she was with is dead."

"Tyler!" Ben yelled.

"What?"

"Shut up."

Ben turned to the woman, Tanya, to see that she was crying silently.

She was whimpering now and the two men stood awkwardly, not knowing how to handle her. Frustrated with Tyler's insensitivity, I elbowed my way to stand by her head and pushed him out of the way. Huffing, he ran his hand through his hair and backed away, no longer needed.

"Tanya? Tanya." I called. Her streaming eyes found mine in the chaos. "You're going to be okay."

Her eyes shut tightly and she shook her head. Whoever it was she lost in the crash was making her not care whether she survived or not. Her face paled and her eyes unfocused.

A loud beeping tone echoed around the room. At once the doctors were yelling and pushing me out of the way. Her shirt had already been torn open and the paddles were charged and pressed down on her skin. Shutting my eyes, I turned away only to walk straight into Edward's chest. Sobbing a little, I buried my head into his sweater.

They fought for what seemed like eternity before a jagged rhythm came from the heart monitor. Tanya stayed unconscious.

"That's the third time she's coded. We can't keep doing this. We have to get her to surgery."

"She's haemorrhaging!"

"Mommy!"

The entire room turned to the opening of the curtain to where to little voice called from. I was utterly shocked. It couldn't be. Could it?

"Mommy!" Noah called again as he scrambled away from the hold of Nurse Jackie's hand and ran to Tanya's head.

I looked to Edward and saw his eyes were wide and terrified. He looked torn up.

"Mommy, you're back! Where did you go? I missed you."

His little voice was barely heard of the chaos over Tanya's body. The doctors had returned to ignoring him and were working frantically on her, preparing her for surgery.

I was still overcome by shock.

Tanya's eyes suddenly shot open and they were completely lit up. She gazed at Noah with such happiness and relief and in that moment we knew it was true.

"Noah?" She croaked for the first time with a smile in her eyes as fresh tears fell. He grinned at her.

"You found me, Mommy. I knew that you would."

"We gotta get that kid out of the way. Blood loss is getting too much!"

Edward quickly ran forward and scooped Noah into his arms. He cried out to Tanya.

We were quickly ushered from the area as the doctors and Carlisle wheeled Tanya down the corridor toward surgery.

**------**

**I have absolutely no medical knowledge. But then again, who really cares? So we meet Jessica in this chappy. She has her own background and story and I really want to explore her history with you guys. **

**ANNND, Noah's mother, anyone? Her surviving the crash itself wasn't planned at all. But what's an Edward without an overdramatic dose of self-loathing? Y'all know he's totally gonna blame himself for leaving her behind. Even if he thought she was dead. ****And her being Tanya has no real significance. I just like using the names of the original characters rather than create new ones. **

**Any POV's anyone wants to hear from? I can give it a go. **

**UPDATE: oh lordy, I've written a few things so wrongly regarding Jess, her baby and Edward. I'm not gonna leave you guys hanging about this. This was completely unintentional.**

**Edward is NOT Jessica's baby's father. Jessica has never met or spoken to or heard of Edward before. They are 100% strangers. The 'look' from Edward will be explained in a later chapter. It is completely platonic. As in, they have never been romantically involved and wont ever be. But as I've written, Eddie recognizes Jess from SOMEWHERE, though they have never met or been in any proximity to one another. Guess away.**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm too much of a laid back person to channel a semi-decent villain. So I just kind of ambled through writing this chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except Noah. And now Delia, Greg and Sarah. **

**-----**

Chapter 8

(VicPOV)

_**November 30th**__** - 10:40am**_

In the driver's seat to my left, James was on his cell phone, talking to the company headquarters over in Volterra.

"Yes, sir. We're on target."

There was some indecipherable murmurs from the other end of the line. A crease of agitation formed in his brow. He peaked over the dash into the flowing traffic of the highway that led into the city of Seattle.

"We should be at SeaTac in an hour or so, sir." There was a pause. "Others from California, yes I know, sir."

He sighed and rolled his eyes at me. "I won't."

He hung up the phone at grinned at me sarcastically.

"What did Aro say?" I asked, eyeing the curve of his lip hungrily. He saw me looking and leaned forward, capturing my mouth in a rough kiss.

"Same old shit. The old prick doesn't trust me."

"What do you expect? The entire thing is a month behind because you messed up and lost the file."

"It was an accident, Victoria!"

"You should just feel lucky that it didn't land itself into the hands of one of the towns people or Aro would have had your ass handed to the guards."

"I know, I know."

He signalled and pulled onto the hard shoulder, overtaking a bunch of slow SUVS. I took in the beauty of his profile and rubbed my hand down his chest.

"I can't wait for Alaska, baby." I murmured sultrily.

His dark eyes glinted in the late morning sunshine and he stalled my hand before it continued it's mission further south.

"Patience, my sweet."

I pouted and he kissed it right off of me. We continued on our journey to Seattle. We'd been driving for days across the states. The brotherhood had sent all of their workers, including James and I, to America on a large carrier ship from Italy, where the Volturi was founded and housed. The ship held the forty or so volunteers, most people wanted to go in pairs, and their designated unmarked black trucks that held one bomb each.

The ship docked in a private harbour outside of Miami and each truck started driving from there over a week ago. Each couple was to plant their weapon in the hidden location in their city and make their way to the airport to catch a private flight to Juneau, Alaska.

We each had a pre-paid for car waiting for us at the airport and we had to meet in a small town called Denali. There we would live.

James and I were one of the last trucks to make it to their destination. A few other people were meeting us at SeaTac from California. We would be in the air, in our cosy private jets and flying over Canada, when everything went down.

James and I would be in Seattle already had it not been for this horrendous traffic.

I was broken from my musings when James cursed loudly and the truck jerked upwards suddenly. The brakes were screeching in protest as he slammed his foot down and pulled quickly onto the shoulder.

"What the hell, James?"

"A damn tire blew!" He cursed some more and slammed his hand hard on the wheel. "We ran over something sharp on the road."

I was enraged. There was no way I was getting delayed for that flight. "Well, fucking fix it!"

He turned to me, his eyes dark and evil, a growled. "Dammit, Victoria! Do I look like some fucking mechanic? There's no spares!"

"What do we do?" I was starting to panic.

He hit the wheel again but was silent, thinking. He rolled down the window and looked out and around us. We were surrounded by traffic.

"There's no way we have the time to get a tow truck."

"I know that." he spat. Still looking around, he muttered under his breath, then turned back to me. He looked me over. I was wearing tight black leather pants, pointy heels and a charcoal tank top. My unruly red hair was flowing around me like a veil.

"What? What are you looking at?"

James smirked and turned to the door, pushed it open and jumped out onto the ground. He shut it and stuck his head through the open window. "Get out of the car."

"What?!"

"Just do it."

I huffed and seethed at his superior tone but I hopped out anyway, staggering slightly in my heels.

I stalked back to where James now stood at the back of the truck. He pulled out a key and stuck it in the lock, turned it and the rear doors popped open. The bomb came into view.

"You idiot!" I slapped him on the arm, peering around us frantically. "Do you WANT these people to see?"

"I'm just checking on it. God."

He shut the doors and locked them again. "What's the plan, Sherlock?" I snapped.

He smirked again. "We're going to hitch a ride into the city. We'll go to the airport as planned and go to Alaska."

My eyes widened and my voice came out as a whisper. "You're planning to leave that thing _here_?"

"There's no way for us to get it into the city by midday. And I am NOT going to be stuck in traffic, wired to some tow with that thing in the back when it's fucking fireworks time."

I sighed roughly and ran my hand through my hair. "Aro is so going to have our asses for dinner, you know that, right?"

James grinned. "I didn't think cannibalism was his style." He placed his large palm on my cheek and rubbed my skin. I melted into his touch. He shrugged out of his coat and placed it around my shoulders. I quirked an eyebrow at him.

"It adds to the damsel in distress look. I need you to flag down a car."

I groaned but kissed him hungrily. "I love you, baby."

"I love you, too." He sighed into my mouth. "Now go get us a ride."

I yelped as he swatted my ass when I turned. "Patience." I grinned at him, then sauntered towards the road, hand already in the air.

It didn't take us long to flag a car, but it was hardly what I expected. Instead of some pervert who was ogling my leather clad legs, it was a family.

They pulled up behind us and the driver, the father, rolled down his window. I was surprised to see his eyes genuinely focusing on my face instead of through the gap in James' coat that showed my chest.

I looked into the car and assessed the people. The man driving was handsome, fairly young and had a mop of blond hair. His skin was tan and weather-beaten. His wife in the passenger seat was smiling prettily and had long, shining brown hair and warm blue eyes behind glasses. In the back row of seats sat two children. The boy looked to be about thirteen, and was the image of his father but with his mother's hair and freckles. He was looking up from some video game in his lap. The little girl was very young, perhaps a year or maybe less. She had what seemed like a mix of both parents hair colour. It was a warm honey blond. She appeared to be asleep.

I jerked my attention back to the father, who was looking up at me innocently. "You guys need a ride?"

-------

For about a half hour we drove in silence. The woman, who we learned was called Delia and worked as a high school teacher back in their hometown of Mobile, Alabama, kept giving us odd looks through the rear-view mirror. Delia's husband, Greg, was whistling along to the radio as he drove. He owned a music store. Their son, Riley, was eyeing us suspiciously and had one arm safely around the car seat of his baby sister, Sarah, who was still dozing.

Greg stretched out a hand toward the radio dial and switched the channel over to something for the kids. He cleared his throat.

"So, ah, James, is it? What do you do for a living?"

James' eyes flashed with annoyance and he rolled them at me. His fist clenched but he forced a fake smile on his face.

"I, um, do transport for, uh, a company in Italy."

"Oh? What does your company make?"

He fucking smirked. "Nuclear devices."

Delia's eyes widened and she looked at her husband in shock. I dug my elbow into James' side and he winced angrily. "My husband's company puts together the machines that power nuclear plants. They use some sort of custom material." I forced a girlish giggle. "I try not to get involved. I was never into science."

Greg chuckled and placed his hand over his wife's. "That's like me with Delia over here. I mean, my job is mostly stacking shelves and ordering most of the time. Delia teaches AP chemistry. I never understood all them equations and reactions and stuff."

Delia coughed delicately but tried to remain polite. "What do you do, Victoria?"

I could tell she was becoming uncomfortable, so I tried to put her at ease. We didn't need them tossing us out or calling the cops.

"I'm a dance instructor." This was technically true. Well, it was a year ago.

She seemed to relax slightly at this. "What kind of dance?"

"I have my own ballet studio back home in New Jersey."

"What brings you two to Washington? Tourists like us?" Greg asked.

"An order was sent to the wrong address for James company. It was meant to go to Seattle but another guy sent it to a different city. Something like that. We were in the area for vacation and James offered to get it to it's rightful owner." I was proud of how I could come up with such lies on the spot.

Riley spoke up, with a hint of rebellion, like was trying to get a rise out of us. "So you just left your truck on the side of the road?"

James narrowed his eyes at the boy. "We're heading back into the city to get a tow truck and bring it out here."

Riley huffed and returned his attention to his sister.

Thankfully we were nearing Seattle and were in the outskirts of the city, surrounded by low buildings and car-lined streets.

James directed them to a run-down area of town. There was a tow business at the end of a street. They pulled over onto the side and he hopped out quickly, running inside.

I scrambled out to join him. "You're actually going to get a tow-truck bring it closer to the city?" I asked him.

He snorted. "Of course not. Appearances. They have to think we actually are going to go back to our truck. We can tell them to leave and just get a cab to the airport. I'm going to call Peter and Charlotte and see where they are. Then check in on the pilot."

I waited impatiently as he asked the woman behind the desk of the tow shop to use her phone, turning up the charm. She was dazed as she pushed it over to him. He chatted quickly to Peter and then rang up the number we were given for the pilot's own line.

James started getting frustrated as the seconds dragged on without an answer on the other end. Finally I heard a gruff greeting voice but I couldn't make out what was said. Suddenly, James was furious and growling and yelling into the phone. The receptionist jerked back in shock.

"You piece of shit! I should have known you'd screw me over! Well let me tell you this, _Marcus_, this is certainly not the last you'll hear from me. You hear me? I'm gonna come straight to fucking Alaska some other way and rip your fucking throat out! You ain't getting rid of me that easily. And guess what! We left your fucking van with your fucking bomb on the fucking highway!"

With that parting comment, he slammed the phone onto the base, cracking the plastic. I was frozen in shock, trying to comprehend what he had said. Screw James over? How?

He suddenly became aware of what he'd said, because he turned to the receptionist, who was looking at the both of us in pure fear. Before either her or I could get a word out, James pulled a gun from his belt, twisted on a silencer, and shot her in the chest.

"What the fuck was that?" I screamed at him. He turned to me, murderous.

"What?" He spat. "You're prepared to blow up half the fucking country yet you can't handle a little bullet?"

There was a sharp gasp and intake of breath from the doorway. I turned slowly to face the noise. Just inside the doors stood Delia and Greg, both pale and terrified, eyes wide, hands over their mouths.

"Oh god, what now?" James growled, before pointing his gun once more. In two swift and startling blasts, Delia and Greg were dead.

I shoved him hard in the chest. "What - did - he - say!?"

James sneered at me. "There was never a plane. Aro lied to us! He's just leaving us here to die with the rest of these pathetic people."

Cold fear spread through my veins. "What?" I whispered fiercely.

"There's no other flights to Alaska before go-time. We have to get as far away from the city as we can. We'll go west. Around the mountains."

One of his large hands gripped my forearm and he yanked and dragged me outside, kicking Greg's body out of the way. He stopped suddenly, after hearing a jingling. He bent and scooped up the car keys from the man's pocket.

I saw Riley's face through the car window. He was crying and screaming and banging on the windows. I realised then that he must have been able to see his parents die. When he saw us, his eyes grew wide and angry and he quickly moved to scoop up his wailing sister and escape.

He'd barely opened the door before James kicked it shut and pointed his gun. Riley froze and clutched his sister tighter. "I won't let you hurt her!" He yelled.

"Then just sit back and don't move." Riley knew he couldn't and wouldn't fight against a gun so he sat back and fresh tears began to fall down his cheeks, his face crumpling up in pain. He started to sniffle into baby Sarah's hair as she continued to wail.

James put the car into gear and pulled a sharp U-turn. "Can't you shut that kid up?" He barked at me.

I glared at him. "How the hell would I know how to handle a screaming kid?"

"Jesus, you can't do anything, can you?"

I bared my teeth at him in anger.

We started to speed away and out of the neighbourhood. We whizzed down streets and across intersections until we were on another highway that headed west towards the pacific.

"Where exactly are we going, James?" I asked after a while.

He smirked. "Are you already forgetting your roots, Victoria?"

My eyes widened in shock. He wouldn't. "You're taking us _there_?"

He nodded smugly. "I would have thought you would be just thrilled to go home to Forks, my sweet."

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**Let me know what you think! Our residents of Forks shall be expecting a few more visitors! And just to reassure some, I can't handle violence against children in stories. So James will not be pointing a gun at Riley and Sarah. I had a hard enough time killing innocent little Greg. Poor guy.**

**So we've had Bella, Alice and Victoria. I wanted to cover where everyone is. I can't think of any other people that will show up in Forks. However, if there is some Twilight characters that you would particularly like to see in this story, let me know. This story is for you guys, so ask if you want to see something specifically (within reason!).**

**Example… say you love the wolf pack. Do you want me to keep Jacob? Or do you just want me to include some people from La Push? I make most of this story up as I go along. So I have no concrete plans that say Quil or Embry or anyone else will or won't be showing up. So asking for something isn't going to mess with a plot.**


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